Canterbury meaneth that thus abuseth the People in giving them liberty to read the Scriptures which doth nothing else but infect them with Heresy I have bestowed never an Hour upon my Portion nor never will And therefore my Lord shall have this Book again for I will never be guilty of bringing the simple People into Error My Lord of Canterbury's Servant took the Book and brought the same to Lambeth unto my Lord declaring my Lord of London's Answer When the Arch-bishop had perceived that the Bishop had done nothing therein I marvel said he that my Lord of London is so froward that he will not do as other Men do One Mr. Thomas Lawney stood by and hearing my Lord speak so much of the Bishop's untowardness said I can tell your Grace why my Lord of London will not bestow any labour or pains this way Your Grace knoweth well that his Portion is a piece of New Testament But he being perswaded that Christ had bequeathed him nothing in his Testament thought it mere madness to bestow any labour or pain where no Gain was to be gotten And besides this it is the Acts of the Apostles which were simple poor Fellows and therefore my Lord of London disdained to have to do with any of them Whereat my Lord of Canterbury and others that stood by could not forbear from laughter This Lawney was a witty Man and Chaplain to the old Duke of Norfolk and had been one of the Scholars placed by the Cardinal in his New College at Oxon. Where he was Chaplain of the House and Prisoner there with Frith another of the Scholars In the Time of the six Articles he was a Minister in Kent placed there I suppose by the Arch-bishop When that severe Act was past more by the Authority of a Parliament than by the Authority of the Word of God it chanced that my Lord of Norfolk meeting with this his Chaplain said O! my Lawney knowing him of old much to favour Priests Matrimony whether may Priests now have Wives or no If it please your Grace replied he I cannot well tell whether Priests may have Wives or no But well I wot and am sure of it for all your Act that Wives will have Priests Hearken Masters said the Duke how this Knave scorneth our Act and maketh it not worth a Fly Well I see by it that thou wilt never forget thy old Tricks And so the Duke and such Gentlemen as were with him went away merrily laughing at Lawney's sudden and apt Answer The Reader will excuse this Digression CHAP. IX Monasteries visited THis Year the Monasteries were visited by Cramwel Chief Visitor Who appointed Leighton Legh Petre London his Deputies with Injunctions given them to be observed in their Visitation Indeed the King now had thoughts of dissolving them as well as visiting them Whose Ends herein were partly because he saw the Monks and Friars so untoward towards him and so bent to the Pope and partly to enrich himself with the Spoils Arch-bishop Cranmer is said also to have counselled and pressed the King to it but for other Ends viz. That out of the Revenues of these Monasteries the King might found more Bishopricks and that Diocesses being reduced into less compass the Diocesans might the better discharge their Office according to the Scripture and Primitive Rules And because the Arch-bishop saw how inconsistent these Foundations were with the Reformation of Religion Purgatory Masses Pilgrimages Worship of Saints and Images being effectual to their Constitution as the Bishop of Sarum hath observed And the Arch-bishop hoped that from these Ruins there would be new Foundations in every Cathedral erected to be Nurseries of Learning for the use of the whole Diocess But however short our Arch-bishop fell of his Ends desired and hoped for by these Dissolutions the King obtained his For the vast Riches that the Religious Houses brought in to the King may be guessed by what was found in one namely S. Swithins Winchester An account of the Treasures whereof I having once observed from a Manuscript in the Benet Library thought not amiss here to lay before the Reader which he may find in the Appendix When these Visitors returned home from their Visitation they came well stock'd with Informations of the loose wicked and abominable Lives and Irregularities of the chief Members of these Houses of Religion having by diligent inquisition throughout all England collected them These Enormities were read publickly in the Parliament-House being brought in by the Visitors When they were first read nothing was done with these unclean Abbots and Priors But within a while saith Latimer in a Sermon before King Edward how bad soever the Repâ—â—ts of them were some of them were made Bishops and others put into good Dignities in the Church that so the King might save their Pensions which were otherwise to be paid them Now I will at the conclusion of my Collections for this Year set down the Names of the Bishops this Year consecrated both Diocesan and Suffragan there having bâ—en an Act of Parliament made in the six and twentieth of the King that is the last Year for furnishing the Diocesses with six and twenty Suffragans for the better aid and comfort of the Diocesans The Seâ—s whereof are all set down in the said Act. But I doubt whether there were ever so many made At least the mention of the Acts of the Consecration of some of the Suffragans in the Province of Canterbury are omitted in the Register Before this Act of Parliament enjoining the number of Suffragans Suffragans were not unusual in the Realm Whom the Bishops Diocesans either for their own ease or because of their necessary absence from their Diocesses in Ambassies abroad or Attendance upon the Court or civil Affairs procured to be consecrated to reside in their steads Thus to give some Instances of them as I have met with them About the Year 1531 I find one Vnderwood Suffragan in Norwich that degraded Bilney before his Martyrdom Certain bearing the Title of Bishops of Sidon assisted the Arch-Bishops of Canterbury One of these was named Thomas Wellys Prior of S. Gregories by Canterbury He being Arch-Bishop Warham's Chaplain was sent by him to Cardinal Wolsey to expostulate with him in his Lord's Name for encroaching upon his Prerogative Court There was afterwards one Christopher that bore that Title and assisted Arch-bishop Cranmer about these Times in Ordinations and another Thomas intitled also of Sidon succeeded Long before these I find one William Bottlesham Espicopus Navatensis Anno 1382 at the Convocation House in London summoned against the Wicklivites that then shewed themselves at Oxford Robert King Abbot of Oseney while Abbot was consecrated titular Bishop and called Episcopus Roannensis a See in the Province of the Arch-bishoprick of Athens This is he that resigned Oseny and Tame under the name of Bishop of Reonen Of which See the Bishop of Sarum
Possession of Arch-bishop Parker From whence he published the Book in the Year 1571 intituling it Reformatio Legum Ecclesiasticarum c. Which was printed again in the Year 1640. Both these Manuscript Draughts were diligently compared together by Iohn Fox and the main Difference seemed to consist in putting the latter into a new Method and placing the Titles differently For in this Matter Cranmer was much busied in King Edward's Reign also being greatly desirous to bring that good Work to perfection For he thought it greatly inconvenient when the Pope's Power was abrogated that his Laws should remain in Force holding it highly necessary that the Nation might have a Body of wholsome Laws for the good Administration of Justice in the Spiritual Courts Wherefore he procured in the fifth Year of that King Letters Commissional to him and seven more diligently to set about the perusal of the old Church-Laws and then to compile such a Body of Laws as should seem in their Judgments most expedient to be practised in the Ecclesiastical Courts and Jurisdictions These seven were Thomas Goodrick Bishop of Ely Richard Cox the King's Almoner Peter Martyr William May Rowland Taylour Iohn Lucas and Richard Goodrick But the Matter was in effect wholly intrusted by the King to the Arch-bishop who associated to himself in the active part of this Work Taylour Martyr and Haddon The Method they observed in managing this Affair was that after they had finished a Title and drawn it up it was then sent to Dr. Haddon who was a Civilian and an accurate Latinist to peruse And if any thing was less elegantly expressed to correct it So I find at the Title De Decimis these words writ by Cranmer This is finished by us but must be over-seen again by Dr. Haddon Thus for instance I observe these Corrections by Haddon's Pen in the Chapter intituled De Commodis quae perveniunt à Sacris ritibus instead of Gratiarum actionis mulierum a partu he corrected it Levatarum puerperarum And in another place Cuicunque hoc Praerogativum est instead of hoc Praerogativum he put Hoc peculiare jus tribuitur quod Praerogativum vocant But his Corrections are very few and but of words less proper The Work and Words were mainly Cranmer's own But all this great and long Labour of the Arch-bishop came to no effect by reason of the King 's untimely Death and it may be the secret opposition of Papists At the same time that he being at Hampton-Court dealt with the King concerning the Reformation of the Canon-Laws he also gave him an Account of a Business his Majesty had imployed him in and with him also Heth and Day Bps of Worcester and Chichester and some other of his Chaplains and Learned Men whom he had of late appointed with the Arch-bishop to peruse certain Books of Service delivered by the King to them wherein there were many Superstitions fit to be amended Which the Arch-bishop in the Name of the rest at this time acquainted the King with As namely the Vigil and ringing of Bells all the Night long upon Alhallow-Night and the covering of Images in the Church in the time of Lent with the lifting the Vail that covereth the Cross on Palm-Sunday and kneeling to the Cross at the same time He moved the King in his own Name and the Name of the rest that these things might be abolished and the Superstitions and other Enormities and Abuses of the same And that because all other Vigils which in the beginning of the Church were godly used yet for the manifold Superstitions and Abuses which did after grow by means of the same were many Years past taken away throughout Christendom and there remained nothing but the Name of the Vigil in the Calendar saving only upon Alhallow-Day at Night he moved that it might be observed no more And because creeping to the Cross was a greater Abuse than any of the other for there the People said Crucem tuam adoramus Domine And the Ordinal saith Procedant Clerici ad Crucem adorandum nudis pedibus and it followeth in the said Ordinal Ponatur Crux ante aliquod Altare ubi à Populo adoretur Which by the Bishop's Book intituled A necessary Instruction is against the second Commandment therefore he desired of the King that the creeping to the Cross might also cease hereafter These superstitious Usages were allowed in the Articles of Religion put forth Anno 1536. Cranmer then not having Interest enough to procure the laying them aside or thinking it then not a fitting season to attempt it as being in vain to oppose what the King himself at that time approved of But now the King listned to the Arch-bishop and bad him confer with the Bishop of Worcester and send to him their Thoughts what course they would advise him to take for Redress The Arch-bishop accordingly consulted with the said Bishop who then went along with Cranmer in the Reformation The Effect of which was as the Arch-bishop wrote to the King soon after from Bekesbourn That his Majesty should send his Letters to both the Arch-bishops to reform these Superstitions and they to send in the King's Name to all the Prelates within their respective Provinces to the same purpose The Arch-bishop withal sent to the King the Minutes of a Letter to be sent to him the said Arch-bishop to that intent He also advised the King that at the same time that this Alteration was commanded to be made he should set forth some Doctrine which should declare the Cause of the abolishing these Usages for the Satisfaction of the Consciences of the People For he knew well as he wrote that the People would think the Honour of Christ was taken away when this honouring of the Cross was taken away And therefore that they should need some good Instruction herein He nominated the Bishops of Worcester and Chichester and some other his Graces Chaplains for the preparing this And this he said would make the People obey him without murmuring nay be thankful to him for shewing them the Truth And it would be a Satisfaction to other Nations when they should see the King do nothing but by the Authority of God's Word and for the setting forth of God's Honour and not the diminishing thereof This Letter of the Arch-bishop to the King is extant in the Paper-Office whence the Bishop of Sarum extracted a Copy These things were agitated in the Bishop of VVinchester's Absence whom the King had sent Ambassador this Year with the Bishop of VVestminster to Charles the Emperor about the Mediation of a Peace between England and France The Arch-bishop took this occasion to move the King in these good Purposes for a further Reformation of Abuses in Religion towards the which the King appeared to be in so good a Mind VVinchester being absent who if he had been at Home would undoubtedly have done his Endeavour to put a Check to these Attempts But it
that had the Gift of God and that they pronounced it wicked and abominable and termed it a Doctrine of Devils and the Invention of Antichrist All which Bishop Ponet in the Name of all the Protestants in his Book did utterly deny that ever they said writ or thought so This Book was indeed made by the Bishop of Winchester when he was in the Tower and he borrowed much of it from Albertus Pighius and published about that time Martin being then a Student at the University of Bourges in France it once happened in some Conversation there that Edward the King of England was commended whether it were for his Vertue or Learning or Abilities beyond his Years whereat Martin began as it seemed to eclipse the King's Honour by mentioning the Imprisonment of Winchester saying That there was a Head-Papist Prisoner in England meaning him Upon which several asked him Whether it was not the same Winchester that had set out an Hodgpodg concerning Marriage of Priests He laughing answered It was even he But that no Man ought to marvel for that VVinchester was more meet for Warlike than for Ecclesiastical Disputations Which Passage I have from Bale who was acquainted at that University with Franciscus Baldwin the Learned Professor of Law there Out of this Book Martin framed that which went under his Name with Winchester's Privity And this was well enough known to Bale and others in those Times Ponet said that Martin was abused by others who set him a-work to bear the Name and to desire the Fame of so gay a Book rather than he was the Author of it indeed The said Ponet or Poinet late Bishop of Winchester but now an Exile very learnedly answered this Book in two several Treatises The first was intitled An Apology against Tho. Martin's Blasphemies In this Treatise upon occasion of the Papists prohibition of Marriage to Priests he proved that the said Papists were Hereticks and had taken part in the most principal Parts with all the Hereticks that had corrupted the true Church of Christ. The Second Treatise replenished with great Learning he lived not to finish though some doubt whether he were the Author of this Book but the Copy falling into the Hands of Matthew Parker Arch-bishop of Canterbury he published it in the beginning of Q. Elizabeth's Reign with very large and excellent Additions of his own Ponet had thorowly studied this Point and I believe was put upon the Study of it by Arch-bishop Cranmer whose Chaplain he was For before this he put forth two Books upon this Argument viz. Of the Marriage of Ministers And a Defence of that Marriage The last thing I have to say concerning these Orders taken with the Married Clergy is That there were two things thought very Hard which were put upon those that were willing to comply and put away their Wives The one was in relation to the publick Confessions they were to make Which were put into their Mouths by others and drawn up for them in that manner as made them tell horrible Lies They must speak their own Shame in Bills of their Penance lying against themselves most vilely and most shamefully disabling their Credit and Estimation for ever And to give an Instance One such Confession which was much cried out against was made by one Sir Iohn Busby of Windsor Iune 29. in the Year 1555. Which Ponet calleth a goodly Confession of his hearty and earnest Repentance Which saith he was so finely penned and so Catholickly tracted that I warrant you it was none of the smallest Fools that forged it The other thing was that after these poor Men had thus done their Penances and spoke their Confessions the Imposers of these Penalties upon them were not so good as they pretended they would be and as the Queen's Instructions required them to be towards them Not restoring them to their Ministration Some that had been two or three Years parted from their Wives could not be admitted again to Ministration yet they must do open Penance and go by the Cross without any Redemption or Entreaty that could be made CHAP. IX Evils in this Change A Parliament BY this time the face of the Church was perfectly changed and all the Reformation that was made for twenty Years before namely from Cranmer's first ascent to the Archiepiscopal Chair to this time was unravelled in less than a Year and abolished But the Favourers of the Gospel lamented it exceedingly And Bishop Ridley writ a Treatise wherein he shewed what a deplorable Change in Religion this was by setting down at large what Religion was in K. Edward's Days and what it was at that present laying the Cause of this sore Judgment upon the vile and naughty Lives of the People so unsuitable to the good Religion professed The Professors lamented two great Evils lighting upon the People upon this turn of Religion Not only that it brought the People into error and Superstition but involved them universally in the Crime of Perjury The blame of which they laid upon the Popish Clergy For they not only had connived at but allowed and encouraged the casting off the Pope's Supremacy and made both Priests and Laity swear to the King And now they set up the Pope's Authority again in England and required all to swear to that For they compelled not only such as were Priests to perjure themselves but all the Laity Nobility Gentry Magistrates Merchants and others for hardly any were exempted the Oath of Supremacy in the former Reigns For in every Law-day the Keepers of the same were sworn to call all the Young Men of their Hundred even as they came to Years of Discretion to swear never to receive the Bishop of Rome nor no other Foreign Potentate to be Head of the People of England but only the King and his Successors Which Oath if it were unlawful as the Clergy-Men now said then all the Realm had reason of high Displeasure against them that so led them and knew it Such gross Dissembling were the Bishops guilty of to the involving the People in Guilt And this dissembling Quality the Priests still retained in this Queen's Days For when any came to some of them shewing them that his Conscience was not satisfied in the present way of Religion the Priest would tell him that he said the Truth My Conscience would he say is as yours but we must bear for a time and that he himself looked for another Change When another of a contrary Opinion came to the Priests and talked about Religion they would say to him That they had been deceived and thanks be to God said they that ye kept your Conscience all this while And even so was mine but I durst not do any otherwise but trusted that this time would come as is now thanks be to God Nay and sometimes in the same Town they would minister the Service two ways to the People to please both In
thereof according to Equity and Justice Thus favourable he was to Religion and good Men in the two former Kings Reigns But when Queen Mary succeeded he could no longer be a Sanctuary or Succour unto them unless it were to comfort them by Words and to pray for them as was said before The Arch-bishop added That he was for his part now utterly unable either to help or counsel being in the same Condemnation that they were But that the only thing that he could do he would not omit and that was to pray for them and all others then in Adversity But he entreated Cecyl who by this time seemed to have gotten his Pardon or at least to be in good assurance of it and so in a better Capacity to raise up Friends to those honest Men to use what Means possible he could for them This was all he could do now for the Prisoners of Christ. But while he was in Place and Capacity of succouring such distressed Persons as he was in King Edward's Days he gave them Countenance Entertainment at his House and Table Preferment Recommendation to the King and Protector And indeed there was great need of some such Patrons of poor Protestants the Persecutions in Italy in Spain in France in Germany and other Places being abâ—â—t this Time extreamly hot Which occasioned the flight of great Numbers into this Nation Which some of them stiled Christi Asylum A Sanctury for Christ In the Year 1549 the Persecution in France grew very warm Which was partly occasioned upon the Inauguration of King Henry II and his Entrance into Paris for that Purpose For the burning of Martyrs in several Streets of the City where and when the King was to pass by made a barbarous part of the Solemnity In this Year many French Protestants who had been Imprisoned for Religion in their own Country were either banished or secretly made their escape into this Kingdom These applied to some French Ministers entertained as it seems in the Arch-bishop's Family with Bucer Peter Martyr and others Which Ministers delivered the Condition of these poor Men to the Arch-bishop And having a Petition to present to the Lord Protector declaring their miserable State and requiring Relief he appointed the French Ministers to apply themselves to Cecyl then Master of Requests to the Lord Protector and that he might be the more ready to recommend and forward the Petition to render it the more effectual he advised Bucer Martyr Alexander and Fagius to write their Letters jointly unto the said Cecyl for the French Ministers to carry along with them as their Letter of Credence For the Arch-bishop well knew that Cecyl had a great Esteem for those Learned Men and that their Letters would go a great way with him Such was the particular Care and Diligence our Prelat piously used for Relief of these poor French Exiles The Copy of this Letter I have thought well worthy to be put in the Appendix Indeed it was noted at this Time as a Quality of the Nation That it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Addicted to shew Favour to Strangers nay to admire them And surely it was not without the Providence of God that when in these difficult Times so many Honest Pious Learned Men were forced from their own Countries Friends and Estates they found such hospitable Entertainment here Care was taken for their sufficient Livelyhoods and for those of them that were towards Learning Places were assigned them in the Colleges of the Universities and yearly Stipends settled on them Of those that were most forward and exemplary in these Christian Offices Dr. Laurence Humfrey one who lived in those Times and was well acquainted with these Matters names King Edward in the first place Who as he asserts of his own knowledg was extraordinarily bountiful to them both in London and in the Universities Among the Noble-men he mentions Henry Earl of Dorset and Duke of Suffolk And among the Bishops Thomas Cranmer the Arch-bishop of Canterbury of whom he bestowed this Character That he was worthy to succeed William Warham in his See whom he so well imitated both in courteous Behaviour and Hospitality And as he was in King Edward's Days of such an hospitable Disposition towards Strangers so he was noted for it in the Reign of his Father King Henry being wont then to shew himself very kind and humane to such as travelled into these Parts for Learning as well as for Shelter Gualter the great Divine of Zurick being but a young Man came into England about the Year 1537 and was so affected with the Civilities he received here that he let it stand upon Record in the Preface to his Homilies upon the first Epistle to the Corinthians how humanely he was received at Oxford not only by the Students but by the Publick Professors and by divers at Court But among them he particularly mentioned How Arch-bishop Cranmer whom he stiled The immortal Glory of England received him though a young Man then and a Stranger and had no experience of things nor any Mark or Excellency to recommend him And as he was Compassionate and Hospitable so he was of a free and liberal Disposition and as became a Christian Bishop and an English Peer kept great Hospitality Yet however he could not escape the Imputation of Niggardise and Closeness He had been once accused of it to his Master King Henry but came off with Honour the King himself clearing him of that injurious Scandal and giving him a Character of a quite contrary Nature And again in King Edward's Reign in the Year 1552 some taking the advantage of his Absence from the Court slandered him as though he were Covetous Which coming to his Ear by the cordial Friendship of Cecyl the King's Secretary he wrote that Courtier a Letter in vindication of himself professing That he was not so doted to set his Mind upon things here which neither he could carry away with him nor tarry long with them And that he took not half so much Care for his Living when he was a Scholar at Cambridg as he did at that present when he was Arch-bishop of Canterbury for as he had now much more Revenue than he had then so he had much more to do withal And That he rather feared stark Beggary at last This and other things to the same purpose he signified in that Letter that Cecyl thereby might the better understand his Condition and know how and what to plead at Court in his behalf as Occasion served as hath been more at large related before By the way I cannot but reflect upon one of the Arch-bishop's Expressions which seemed to have been uttered prophetically so exactly did the Event answer to his Words for to stark Beggary he was indeed at last reduced When in his Imprisonment at Oxon he had not a Penny in his Purse And which was more his Enemies were so barbarously severe that it
CHAP. XXIV The Archbishop's care of the Revenues of the Church Bucer dies The Archbishop labours to preserve the Revenues of the Church The detaining the Church-Revenues a Scandal to the Reformation Calvin to the Archbishop upon this matter And to the Duke of Somerset Bucer publickly disputeth at Cambridge Dieth The University wrote up concerning his Death Bucer's Library His Widow retires to Germany The Correspondence between him and Martyr A Plot of the Papists at Oxon against Martyr at an Act. Martyr's Judgment of the Communion-Book Bucer's great dangers Poynet Consecrated and Hoper CHAP. XXV The Archbishop publisheth his Book against Gardiner Cranmer publisheth his Book of the Sacrament His first Book of that Subject Wrote against by Gardiner and Smith Vindicated in another Book by the Archbishop The Method of the Archbishop's Reply The Judgments made of this Book How the Archbishop came off from the Opinion of the Corporal Presence The Archbishop's great Skill in Controversy Peter Mâ—rtyr enlightned by Cranmer Fox's Conjecture of the Archbishop A second Book of Gardiner against the Archbishop The Archbishop begins a third Book Martyr takes up the Quarrel Cranmer puts out his Book of the Sacrament in Latin Printed again at Embden Cranmer's second Book intended to be â—ut into Latin Some Notes of Cranmer concerning the Sacrament Martyr succeeds Cranmer in this Province Writes against Gardiner And Smith CHAP. XXVI The Duke of Somerset 's Death The Duke of Somerset's Death Winchester suppos'd to be in the Plot. Articles against the Duke What he is blamed for The new Book of Common-Prayer established Coverdale made Bishop of Exon. Scory Bishop Elect of Rochester The Archbishop appoints a Guardian of the Spiritualties of Lincoln And of Wigorn And of Chichester And of Hereford And of Bâ—ngor Hoper visits his Diocess Two Disputations concerning the Sacrament Dr. Redman dies The Archbishop and others appointed to reform Ecclesiastical Laws The method they observed Scory Coverdale Consecrated CHAP. XXVII The Articles of Religion The Articles of Religion framed and published The Archbishop's diligence in them The Archbishop retires to Ford. CHAP. XXVIII Persons nominated for Irish Bishopricks Consulted with for fit Persons to fill the Irish Sees Some account of the four Divines nominated by him for the Archbishoprick of Armagh Mr. Whitehead Mr. Turner Thomas Rosse or Rose Robert Wisdom The Character the Archbishop gave of the two former Turner designed for Armagh But declines it Goodacre made Archbishop of Armagh Letters from the Council to Ireland recommending the Irish Bishops CHAP. XXIX The Archbishop charged with Covetousness A Rumour given out of the Archbishop's Covetousness and Wealth Which Cecyl sends him word of The Archbishop's Answer for himself and the other Bishops This very slander raised upon him to K. Henry K. Henry promised him Lands This Promise performed by K. Edward His Purchases The Archbishoprick fleeced by K. Henry Lands past away to the Crown by Exchange Lands made over to the Archbishop The Archbishop parted also with Knol and Otford to the King What moved him to make these Exchanges His Cares and Fears for the King CHAP. XXX His care for the Vacancies Falls sick His Care for filling the Vacancies of the Church Laboured under an Ague this Autumn The great Mortality of Agues about this time That which most concerned him in his Sickness The Secretary sends the Archbishop the Copy of the Emperor's Pacification CHAP. XXXI His Kindness for Germany His Kindness for Germany His Correspondence with Germany And with Herman Archbishop of Colâ—n The suitableness of both these Archbishops Dispositions Their diligence in Reforming CHAP. XXXII Troubles of Bishop Tonstal The Troubles of Bishop Tonstal The Causes of this Bishop's Punishment A Bill in Parliament to attaint Tonstal The Care of the Diocess committed to the Dean CHAP. XXXIII The New Common-Prayer The Archbishop in Kent The New Common-Prayer began to be used This Book put into French for the King's French Subjects The Age still vicious A new Sect in Kent The Archbishop's business in Kent A Letter for Installing Bishop Hoper The Vicar of Beden Sampson and Knox. The Council favour Knox. Iohn Taylor Consecrated CHAP. XXXIV A Catechism The Archbishop opposeth the Exclusion of the Lady Mary Great use made of the Archbishop at Council The Articles of Religion enjoined by the King's Authority The Catechism for Schools A Catechism set forth by the Synod The Archbishop opposeth the New Settlement of the Crown Denyeth before the Council to subscribe to the Exclusion of the Lady Mary Sets his hand The Archbishop ungratefully dealt with The Council subscribe and swear to the Limited Succession CHAP. XXXV The King dies The King dies His Character The Archbishop delights in this Prince's Proficiency K. Edward's Writings The King 's Memorial for Religion The Archbishop frequent at Council His Presence in the Council in the year 1550. In the year 1551. In the year 1552. And 1553. Iohn Harley Consecrated Bishop BOOK III. CHAP. I. Queen Mary soon recognized The Archbishop slandered and imprisoned THE Archbishops and Counsellors concern with the Lady Iane. They declare for Q. Mary And write to Northumberland to lay down his Arms. The Queen owned by the Ambassadors The Archbishop misreported to have said Mass. Mass at Canterbury Which he makes a Publick Declaration against The Declaration Appears before the Commissioners at Pâ—uls And before the Council The Archbishop of York committed to the Tower and his Goods seized At Battersea At Cawood Gardiner's passage of the two Archbishops CHAP. II. Protestant Bishops and Clergy cast into Prisons and deprived This Reign begins with Rigor The Protestant Bishops deprived The hard usage of the Inferior Clergy Professors cast into the Mâ—rshalsea Winchester's Alms. P. Martyr writes of this to Calvin The state of the Church now The Queen leaves all matters to Winchester The Queen Crowned The Service still said The Queen's Proclamation of her Religion Signs of a Change of Religion CHAP. III. The Archbishop adviseth Professors to fly The Archbishop adviseth to flight Cranmer will not fly Whither the Professors fly And who Duke of Northumberland put to Death His Speech Sir Iohn Gates his Speech And Palmer's The Duke lâ—bours to get his life Whether he was always a Papist CHAP. IV. Peter Martyr departs A Parliament P. Martyr departs Malice towards him A Scandal of the Queen A Parliament The Parliament repeal Q. Katherine's Divorce And Cranmer taxed for it CHAP. V. The Archbishop attainted The Archbishop attainted of Treason The Dean of Canterbury acts in the Vacancy The Archbishop sues for Pardon of Treason Obtains it He desires to open his mind to the Queen concerning Religion CHAP. VI. A Convocation A Convocation How it opened The Archbishop and three more crowded together in the Tower CHAP. VII The Queen sends to Cardinal Pole The Queen sends to Pole The Contents of her Letters Concerning the
stuff their Histories with strange Prophecies and Falshoods mixed with some Truth And I suppose the Matter might be no more than this This grave and sober Arch-Bishop was sensible of the gross Encroachments of the Bishops of Rome upon the Authority of the Kings of this Realm in their own Dominions and his Judgment stood for the restoring of this Imperial Crown to its antient Right and Soveraignty and for the abridging the Papal Power And knowing how learned a Man Dr. Thomas Cranmer was and perceiving what an able Instrument he was like to prove in vindicating the King 's Right to the Supremacy in his own Kingdoms the Arch-Bishop upon these Accounts might think him the fittest to succeed in the Archiepiscopal Chair and might have some reason to believe that the King intended him thereunto And that Arch-Bishop Warham was of this Judgment it may appear if we trace some Footsteps of him In the Year 1530 when all the Clergy were under a Praemunire and a Petition was drawing up in the Convocation for that Cause the King in the said Petition was addressed to by the Title of Supream Head of the Church and Clergy of England At this Title when the Arch-Bishop found some of the Clergy to boggle who were yet afraid openly to declare their disallowance of it he took the opportunity of their Silence to pass the Title by saying That Silence was to be taken for their Consent In the last Synod wherein this Arch-Bishop was a Member and the main Director many things were debated about Abolishing the Papacy This Synod was prorogued from April 26 to October 5. In the mean time he died But had he lived and been well unto the next Sessions some further Steps had been made in evacuating the Bishop of Rome's Usurpations as may be guessed by what was done under his influence the last Sessions when the Supremacy of that foreign Prelate was rejected Something more of this Arch-Bishop's Endeavours of restoring the King to his Supremacy appears by what Arch-Bishop Cranmer said to Brooks Bishop of Glocester before a great Assembly not long before his Burning Brooks had charged him for first setting up the King's Supremacy To which Cranmer replied That it was Warham gave the Supremacy to Henry VIII and that he had said he ought to have it before the Bishop of Rome and that God's Word would bear it And that upon this the Universities of Cambridg and Oxford were sent to to know what the Word of God would allow touching the Supremacy Where it was reasoned and argued upon at length and at last both agreed and and set to their Seals and sent it to the King That he ought to be Supreme Head and not the Pope All which was in Arch-Bishop Warham's Time and while he was alive three quarters of a Year before ever Cranmer had the Arch-Bishoprick of Canterbury as he also added in that Audience So that these things considered we may conclude that Warham did think that none would be so fit to come after him as Cranmer a Learned and diligent Man to carry on this Cause which he before him had begun and so might speak of him as the properest Person to be advanced to this See To this I will add the Sense of an Ingenious and Learned Friend of mine concerning this Passage in Harpsfield's History Which the Author also of the Athenae Oxonienses hath made use of to the good Arch-Bishop's Discredit and which Somner also had unluckily selected though without design to hurt his good Name and is all he writes of him But may it not be considered saith he that the pretended Martyr Thomas Becket though he died in vindication of the Privileges of the Church yet he was the first betrayer of the Rights of his See He made the greatest Breach upon the Authority of the Primacy of Canterbury by resigning the Arch-Bishoprick into the Pope's Hands and receiving it again from him as the Pope's Donation But it is the Honour of the blessed Martyr Thomas Cranmer that he was the first who began to claim the Primacy and retrieve the Rights of his See from being slavishly subjected to the Roman Power Indeed little credit is to be given to the Author who first published this Story considering what a Violent Man he was and how much prejudiced against Cranmer and interessed in the Popish Cause and coming into the Arch-Deaconry of Canterbury by the deprivation of the Arch-Bishop's Brother Cranmer Noluit Episcopari had no mind to be Arch-Bishop He loved his Studies and affected Retirement and well knew the Dangers and Temptations of a publick Station But especially he could not induce his Mind to take his Office from the Pope and to swear Fidelity to him as well as to the King whereby he should ensnare himself in two contrary Oaths Wherefore when the King sent for him home from his Embassy in Germany with a design to lay that honourable Burden upon him he guessing the Reason first endeavoured to delay his coming by signifying to the King some Matters of Importance that would require his tarrying there somewhat longer for the King's Service Hoping in that while the King might have bestowed the Place upon some other In fine our Historians say he stayed abroad one half Year longer But I find him in England in the Month of November which was not much more than a quarter of a Year after Warham's Death Then the King was married to the Marchioness of Pembroke and Cranmer was present So that the King must have sent for him home in Iune two or three Months before the Arch-Bishop's Death probably while he was in a declining dying Condition But after when that which Cranmer seemed to suspect of certain Emergences in those parts wherein the English State might be concerned fell not out the King again commanded his return Home Now more perfectly knowing by some of his Friends the King's Intentions to make him Arch-Bishop he made means by divers of his Friends to shift it off desiring rather some smaller Living At length the King brake his Mind to him that it was his full Purpose to bestow that Dignity upon him for his Service and for the good Opinion he conceived of him But his long disabling himself nothing disswaded the King till at last he humbly craved the King's Pardon for that he should declare to him and that was That if he should accept it he must receive it at the Pope's Hand which he neither would nor could do for that his Highness was the only Supream Governour of the Church of England as well in Causes Ecclesiastical as Temporal and that the full Right of Donation of all manner of Benefices and Bishopricks as well as any other temporal Dignities and Promotions appertained to him and not to any other Foreign Authority And therefore if he might serve God him and his Countrey in that Vocation he would accept it of his Majesty and of no Stranger
themselves and are as much bound to obey as their Temporal Subjects or Lay-men as the Priests call them that the Issue was the abolishing of that Foreign Papal Power and the expulsion of it out of this Realm by the full consent of Parliament A Licence dated Feb. 13. this Year was granted by the Arch-Bishop to Mary the Relict of Sir Henry Guilford Kt. to have the Eucharist Matrimony and Baptism ministred in any Chappel or Oratory within her Mannors where she should reside during her Life And such a Licence dated also Feb. 13. the next Year was granted by him to Margaret Marchioness of Dorset Whether indulged to them by the Arch-Bishop the rather to free them from danger for not frequenting their Parish-Churches and for the avoiding the Superstitious and Idolatrous Worship there performed and that there might be some private Places for purer worshipping God and administration of the Sacraments or only for the Convenience of those Ladies the Reader hath liberty to judg CHAP. VI. The Arch-bishop presseth the Translation of the Bible THIS Rub of the Papal Power being now taken out of the way and the King's Supremacy settled in the next Sessions of Parliament in Novemb. 1534. a Way was opened for a Reformation of Errors and Abuses in Religion So that as the Arch-bishop judged it a thing impossible to make any amendment of Religion under the Pope's Dominion so he thought it now the same being dispatched out of the Realm a meeâ— time to restore the true Doctrine of Christ according to the Word of God and the old Primitive Church within his Jurisdiction and Cure and with the said Pope to abolish also all false Doctrine Errors and Heresies by him brought into the Church for the accomplishing of which he let pass no Opportunities A Convocation now afforded him one Our Arch-bishop from his first entrance upon his Dignity had it much in his mind to get the Holy Scriptures put into the Vulgar Language and a Liberty for all to read them The Convocation now was so well disposed by the influence of the Arch-bishop and his Friends that they did petition the King that the Bible might be translated by some Learned Men of his Highnesses nomination And as this good Motion was briefly made in the House by the Arch-bishop so they agreed upon him to carry their Petition But they clogged it with another which the Arch-bishop did not so well approve of For about the Month of December they pass'd this Order of Convocation The Bishops Abbots Priors of this Upper House of Convocation of the Province of Canterbury met together in the Chapter-House of St. Paul unanimously did consent that the most Reverend Father the Arch-bishop should make instance in their Names to the King that his Majesty would vouchsafe for the encrease of the Faith of his Subjects to decree and command That all his Subjects in whose possession any Books of suspect Doctrine were especially in the Vulgar Language imprinted beyond or on this side the Sea should be warned within three Months to bring them in before Persons to be appointed by the King under a certain Pain to be limited by the King And that moreover his Majesty would vouchsafe to decree that the Scriptures should be translated into the Vulgar Tongue by some honest and learned Men to be nominated by the King and to be delivered unto the People according to their Learning This was resolved in the Convocation Decemb. 19. Accordingly the King issued out soon after his Proclamation What this Proclamation was I do not know unless it were one I meet with about this time against bringing in or printing seditious Books of Anabaptists and Sacramentaries who were said to be lately come into the Realm and against some of his own Subjects who publickly disputed in Taverns and other open Places upon those Points of Religion which the King was offended withal For the Correction and Regulating of which the King in the said Proclamation commanded sundry Articles to be observed which for the length of them I have put into the Appendix Unless perhaps this Proclamation may belong to the Year 1538. About the month of Iune this Year was a Book drawn up for Bishops and Priests wherein was an Order for preaching and in the same were Forms devised for the Beads as well for Preachers as Curates In which Forms the King's Title of Supream Head was specified In this Book was commandment given by the King that â—very Preacher should before Easter once in solemn Audience deâ—â—are the usurped Jurisdiction within this Realm of the Bishop of â—ome and the King 's just Cause to decline from the same and also to open and declare such things as might avow and justify the King's refusal of Marriage with the Princess Dowager and his contract anew with Queen Ann. And also in the same Book an Order was given for the suppression of the General Sentence or Curse This Book the Arch-bishop who we may well suppose had a great hand in it sent by the King's Commandment to all the Bishops and to the Arch-bishop of York though out of his Province that Arch-bishop lying under some Jealousy as it seems with the King Therefore after the receit of the Book the said Arch-bishop of York the next Sunday which was the second Sunday after Trinity went from Cawood to York and there in his own Person declared as well the King's Cause touching the Matrimony as his refusal of the Pope's Jurisdiction so fully that nothing that needed to be opened was left unspoken as that Arch-bishop wrote himself to the King in his own Vindication And that the Auditory might be the greater he sent to York forthwith upon the receit of the Book to publish there that he would be there the next Sunday following and caused the Churches to make an end of their Service in such time as every Man might have opportunity to be at the Sermon and especially required the Mayor and his Brethren and one Mr. Magnus and Sir George Lawson his Majesty's Chaplains to be there And a very great Confluence there was Then the Arch-bishop preached from that Text Vxorem duxi c. Whence he took occasion to utter and declare both his foresaid Matters and the Injury done to the King's Highness by Pope Clement As the Convocation this Year had declared the Pope to have no Jurisdiction in this Kingdom so this would not serve the King till all the Learned and Spiritual Men in England had subscribed to it with their Hands The Arch-bishop's Church of Canterbury began For the Prior and Convent thereof moved and influenced not a little by their Diocesan solemnly subscribed an Instrument for abolishing the Pope's Supremacy and for acknowledgment of the King Supream Head of the Church of England under this Position Quod Romanus Episcopus non habet majorem aliqâ—am jurisdictionem a Deo sibi collatam in hoc regno
was at a stand He was translated from this imaginary Bishoprick to be Bishop of Oxford in the Year 1541. One Iohn Hatton had the Title of Episcopus Negropont He was Suffragan under the Arch-bishop of York Iohn Thornden who was several times Commissiary of Oxon while Arch-bishop Warham was Chancellor of that University was stiled Episcopus Syrinensis And hereafter in the progress of this Book we shall meet with a Bishop of Hippolitanum who assisted Arch-bishop Cranmer at his Ordinations These were but Titulary Bishops and the use of them was to supply the Diocesans absence to consecrate Churches and Church-yards and to reconcile them to assist at Ordinations and confer Orders to confirm Children and the like Sometimes these Suffragans had no Titles at all to any place but were Bishops at large Such an one named Richard Martin is met with in an old Register at Canterbury who was Guardian of the Gray-Fryars there By his last Will made 1498 he gave a Library to the Church and Covent He was Parson of Ickham and Vicar of Lyd in Kent and writ himself in the said Will Bishop of the Vniversal Church By which the Antiquarian supposed nothing else was meant but that he was a Bishop in Name endued with Orders but not with Jurisdiction Episcopal having no particular Charge to intend but generally officiating as Bishop in any part of the Christian Church This I have writ that the Reader may not be put to a stand when he shall in these Commentaries meet with some of these Titular Bishops But proceed we now to the Bishops that were this Year Consecrated Diocesan Bishops April the 11 th Nicholas Shaxton was consecrated Bishop of Sarum in the King's Chappel of S. Stephen by our Arch-bishop Iohn Bishop of Lincoln and Christopher Sidoniens assisting Septemb. the 15 th was the Act of Confirmation and Election of Edward Fox Elect of Hereford and of William Barlow Prior of the Priory of Canons Regular of Bisham of the Order of S. Augustin Sarum for the Bishoprick of S. Asaph The Consecration of these two last are not inserted in the Register March the 18 th the Act of Confirmation and Election of George Brown D. D. Provincial of the Order of Friars Augustin in the City of London for the Arch-bishoprick of Dublin Consecrated March the 19 th by the Arch-bishop at Lambeth Nicholas Bishop of Sarum and Iohn Bishop of Rochester assisting Of this last-mentioned Bishop I shall take some further notice having been the first Protestant Bishop in Ireland as Cranmer was in England a great furtherer of the Reformation in that Land being a stirring Man and of good Parts and Confidence He was first taken notice of by Crumwel Lord Privy Seal and by his sole means preferred to this Dignity in the Church of Ireland upon the observation that was taken of him when he was Provincial of the Augustin Order in England advising all People to make their Application only to Christ and not to Saints Whereby he was recommended unto K. Henry who much favoured him When the King's Supremacy was to be brought in and recognized in Ireland which was the same Year wherein he was made Arch-bishop he was appointed one of the King's Commissioners for the procuring the Nobility Gentry and Clergy to reject the Pope and to own the King for Supream Head of the Church In which Commission he acted with that diligence that it was to the hazard of his Life such opposition was made to it in that Realm At which time in an Assembly of the Clergy George Dowdal Arch-bishop of Ardmagh made a Speech to them and laid a Curse upon those whosoever they were that should own the King's Supremacy Within five Years after this this Arch-bishop Brown caused all Superstitious Relicks and Images to be removed out of the two Cathedrals in Dublin and out of the rest of the Churches in his Diocess and ordered the Ten Commandments the Lord's Prayer and the Creed to be set up in Frames above the Altar in Christ's-Church Dublin In K. Edward VI. his Reign he received the English Common-Prayer-Book into that Realm upon the King's Proclamation for that purpose after much opposition by Dowdal And it was read in Christ's-Church Dublin on Easter Day 1551. He preached also a Sermon in Christ's-Church for having the Scripture in the Mother-Tongue and against Image-worship And for this his forwardness and conformity in Religion and the perverseness of the other Arch-bishop of Ardmagh who had violently resisted all good Proceedings the Title of Primacy was taken from him and conferred upon the Arch-bishop of Dublin And Dowdal was banished or as others say voluntarily left his Bishoprick And then Goodacre sent from England with Bale for the See of Ossory succeeded In Q. Mary's days Dowdal was restored and being a great Man in this Reign expulsed Archbishop Brown from his See for being a married Man Who two or three Years after was succeeded by Hugh Corwin a Complier in all Reigns and Brown soon after died Suffragan Bishops The first of these standing in the Register of the Arch-bishop was the Suffragan of the See of Ipswich The Bishop of Norwich according to the direction of the late Act wherein the Bishop was to nominate two for Suffragan to the King and the King was to name one of them to the Arch-bishop to receive Consecration humbly signified to the King that he was destitute of the Aid of a Suffragan and so prayed him to appoint either George Abbot of the Monastery of S. Mary's of Leyston or Thomas Mannyng Prior of the Monastery of S. Mary's of Butley to be his Suffragan without mentioning for what place And on the 7 th of March in the 27 th of his Reign he sent to the Arch-bishop to make the latter Suffragan of Gipwich Who was accordingly consecrated by the Arch-bishop and invested in insigniis Episcopalibus Nicholas Bishop of Sarum and Iohn Bishop of Rochester assisting The Date not specified but probably on the same Day with the Consecration following there being the same Assistants The said Bishop of Norwich sent to the King recommending to him to be Suffragan Thomas de Castleacre of the Cluniac Order and Iohn Salisbury Prior of S. Faiths of Horsham of the Order of S. Benet both Priors of Monasteries in Norwich Diocess The King sent to the Arch-bishop to consecrate Iohn the Prior of S. Faiths for Suffragan of Thetford Accordingly he consecrated him March the 19 th Nicholas Bishop of Sarum and Iohn Bishop of Rochester assisting CHAP. X. The Audience Court THE good Arch-bishop almost every Year met with new Opposition from the Popish Clergy The late Act for abolishing the Pope's Authority and some Acts before that for restraining of Applications to Rome served them now as a Colour to strike at one of the Arch-bishop's Courts viz. that of the Audience a Court which the Arch-bishops used to hold in
of two Houses of Religious Persons namely that of Christ's-Church Canterbury and that of Rochester Towards the latter end of this Year several new Bishopricks were founded out of old Monasteries and several Deaneries and Colleges of Prebends out of divers Priories belonging to Cathedral Churches Herein as Crumwel so Cranmer had a great Hand Who laboured with the King that in these New Foundations there should be Readers of Divinity Greek and Hebrew and Students trained up in Religion and Learning From whence as a Nursery the Bishops should supply their Diocesses with honest and able Ministers And so every Bishop should have a College of Clergy-men under his Eye to be preferred according to their Merits For it was our Arch-bishops regret that the Prebendaries were bestowed as they were This Complaint Bishop Burnet tells us he saw in a long Letter of Cranmer's own hand Bishops Confirmed In Arch-bishops Cranmer's Register I find these Bishops Confirmed their Consecrations being omitted August the 11 th Iohn Bell LL. D. brought up in Baliol College and Arch-deacon of Glocester was Confirmed Bishop of Worcester upon the Resignation of Bishop Latimer in the Chappel of Lambeth He is stiled in the Register the King's Chaplain and Councellor November the Iohn Skyp D. D. Arch-deacon of Dorset and once Chaplain to Queen Ann Boleâ— was Confirmed Bishop of Hereford The King's Letter to the Archbishop to consecrate him bears date November 8. CHAP. XX. The Arch-bishop in Commission THE next Year viz. 1540. The Arch-bishop lost his great Friend and Assistant in carrying on the Reformation I mean the Lord Crumwel And when he was by Popish Craft and Malice taken off their next Work was to sacrifice Cranmer And many were the Accusations that were put up against him and Trial was made many ways to bring him to his Death or at least to bring him in disgrace with the King And first they thought to compass their Ends against him by occasion of a Commission now issued out from the King to a select Number of Bishops whereof the Arch-bishop was one which Commission was confirmed by Act of Parliament for inspecting into Matters of Religion and explaining some of the chief Doctrines of it These Commissioners had drawn up a set of Articles favouring the old Popish Superstitions And meeting together at Lambeth they produced them and vehemently urged that they should be established and that the Arch-bishop would yield to the Allowance of them especially seeing there was a signification that it was the King's Will and Pleasure that the Articles should run in that Tenour But they could not win the Arch-bishop neither by Fear nor Flattery No though the Lord Crumwel at this very time lay in the Tower There was not one Commissioner now on his part but all shrank away and complied with the Time and even those he most trusted to viz. Bishop Hethe of Rochester and Bishop Skip of Hereford The Arch-bishop as he disliked the Book already drawn up by them so he presented another Book wherein were divers Amendments of theirs After much arguing and disputing nor could the Arch-bishop be brought off Hethe and Skip with a Friend or two more walked down with him into his Garden at Lambeth and there used all the Perswasion they could urging to him that the King was resolved to have iâ— so and the Danger therefore of opposing it But he honestly persisted in his constancy telling them That there was but one Truth in the Articles to be concluded upon which if they hid from his Majesty by consenting unto a contrary Doctrine his Highness would in process of Time perceive the Truth and see how colorably they had delt with him And he knew he said his Grace's Nature so well that he would never after credit and trust them And they being both his Friends he bad them beware in time and discharge their Consciences in maintenance of the Truth But though nothing of all this could stir them yet what he said sufficiently confirmed the Arch-bishop to persist in his Resolution The Arch-bishop standing thus alone went himself to the King and so wrought with him that his Majesty joined with him against all the rest of them and the Book of Articles past on his side When indeed this stifness of Canterbury was the very thing his Enemies desired thinking that for this Opposition the King would certainly have thrown him into the Tower and many Wagers were laid in London about it So that this ended in two good Issues that the Arch-bishop's Enemies were clothed with Shame and Disappointment and a very good Book chiefly of the Arch-bishop's composing came forth for the Instruction of the People known by the Name of A necessary Erudition of any Christian Man A particular Account whereof may be read in the History of the Reformation This vexed Winchester to the Heart that his Plot took no better Effect but he put it up till he should find other Opportunities to attack him which after happened as we shall see in the sequel of this Story But this Matter deserves to be a little more particularly treated of The King had as was said before appointed several of the Eminent Divines of his Realm to deliberate about sundry Points of Religion then in Controversy and to give in their Sentences distinctly And that in regard of the Germans who the last Year had sent over in Writing the Judgment of their Divines respecting some Articles of Religion and had offered his Majesty to appoint some of their Divines to meet some others of the King 's in any Place he should assign or to come over into England to confeâ— together And also in regard of a more exact review of the Institution of a Christian Man put forth about two or three Years before and now intended to be published again as a more perfect Piece of Religious Instruction for the People The King therefore being minded thorowly to sift divers Points of Religion then started and much controverted commanded a particular number of Bishops and other his Learned Chaplains and Dignitaries to compare the Rites and Ceremonies and Tenets of the present Church by the Scriptures and by the most Ancient Writers and to see how far the Scripture or good Antiquity did allow of the same And this I suppose he did by the instigation of Arch-bishop Cranmer The Names of the Commissioners were these Cranmer ABp of Canterbury Lee ABp of York Boner Bishop of London Tunstal Bishop of Durham Barlow Bishop of S. David's Aldrich Bishop of Carlisle Skyp Bishop of Hereford Hethe Bishop of Rochester Thirleby Bishop Elect of Westminster Doctors Cox Robinson Day Oglethorp Redman Edgeworth Symonds Tresham Leyghton Curwen Crayford Where we may wonder not to see the Name of the Bishop of Winton But if we consider the Reason the King gave why he left him out of the Number of his Executors viz. because as he told several
themselves a decent Cope as every Suffragan of the Church of Canterbury according as his Profession was ought to give to the same Church by Right and ancient Custom and the Rights Liberties Privileges and other Customs of the said Church always and in all things being safe The renewing of this their old pretended Privilege look'd like some check to the Arch-bishop and as though they required of him a sort of dependence on them now more than before and it shewed some secret Ill-will towards him which brake out more openly not long after as we shall shew in the Process of our Story In the Register is also recorded Boner's Oath of Fidelity to the King against the Bishop of Rome Which I will add here that Men may see with what little Affection to the Pope this Man was let into the Bishoprick which he afterwards made so much use of for him and his Usurpations though thereby he stands upon Record for ever for Perjury But the Oath was this Ye shall never consent nor agree that the Bishop of Rome shall practise exercise or have any manner of Authority Jurisdiction or Power within this Realm or any other the King's Dominions but that ye shall resist the same at all times to the uttermost of your Power And that from henceforth ye shall accept repute and take the King's Majesty to be the only Supream Head in Earth of the Church of England c. So help you God and all Saints and the Holy Evangelists Signed thus ✚ In fidem praemissorum Ego Edm. Boner Elect. Confirmat Londoniens huic praesenti chart a subscripsi By the Arch-bishop's Letters bearing date May 20. he made Robert Harvey B. LL. his Commissary in Calais and in all the other Neighbouring Places in France being his Diocess A Man surely wherein the good Arch-bishop was mistaken or else he would never have ventured to set such a Substitute of such bigotted cruel Principles in that place This Harvey condemned a poor labouring Man of Calais who said he would never believe that any Priest could make the Lord's Body at his pleasure Whereupon he was accused before the Commissary who roundly condemned him to be burnt inveighing against him and saying He was an Heretick and should die a vile Death The poor Man said He should die a viler shortly And so it came to pass for half a Year after he was hang'd drawn and quartered for Treason He seemed to have succeded in the room of a Man of better Principles called Sir Iohn Butler Who was deprived of his Commissariship by some Bishops Commissioners from the King for the examining several Persons suspect of Religion in Calais The Council there had about the Year 1539 complained of him as a maintainer of Damplip a learned and pious Preacher there So he was sent for into England and charged to favour Damplip because he preached so long there and was not restrained nor punish'd by him He answered warily and prudently that the Lord Lisle Lord Deputy and his Council entertained and friendly used him and countenanced him by hearing him preach so that he could not do otherwise than he did After long attendance upon the King's Commissioners he was discharged and returned home but discharged also of his Commissary's place too And having been an Officer of the Arch-bishop's I will add a word or two more concerning him About the Year 1536 he was apprehended in Calais and bound by Sureties not to pass the Gates of that Town upon the Accusation of two Souldiers that he should have said in contempt of the Corporal Presence That if the Sacrament of the Altar be Flesh Blood and Bone then there is good Aqua vitae at John Spicer's Where probably was very bad This Butler and one Smith were soon after brought by Pursevants into England and there brought before the Privy-Council in the Star-Chamber for Sedition and Heresy which were Charges ordinarily laid against the Professors of the Gospel in those Times and thence sent to the Fleet and brought soon after to Bath-place there sitting Clark Bishop of Bath Sampson Bishop of Chichester and Reps Bishop of Norwich the King's Commissioners And no wonder he met with these Troubles For he had raised up the hatred of the Friars of Calais against him by being a Discoverer and Destroyer of one of their gross Religious Cheats There had been great talk of a Miracle in S. Nicolas Church for the conviction of Men that the Wafer after Consecration was indeed turned into the Body Flesh and Bones of Christ. For in a Tomb in that Church representing the Sepulchre there were lying upon a Marble Stone three Hosts sprinkled with Blood and a Bone representing some Miracle This Miracle was in writing with a Pope's Bull of Pardon annexed to those I suppose that should visit that Church There was also a Picture of the Resurrection bearing some relation to this Miracle This Picture and Story Damplip freely spake against in one of his Sermons saying that it was but an Illusion of the French before Calais was English Upon this Sermon the King also having ordered the taking away all superstitious Shrines there came a Commission to the Lord Deputy of Calais to this Sir Iohn Butler the Arch-bishop's Commissary and one or two more that they should search whether this were true and if they found it not so that immediately the Shrine should be plucked down and so it was For breaking up a Stone in the corner of the Tomb instead of the three Hosts the Blood and the Bone they found souldered in the Cross of Marble lying under the Sepulchre three plain white Counters which they had painted like unto Hosts and a Bone that is in the tip of a Sheep's Tail This Damplip shewed the next Day being Sunday unto the People and after that they were sent to the King by the Lord Deputy But this so angred the Friars and their Creatures that it cost Damplip his Life and Commissary Butler much trouble and the loss of his Office After Harvey Hugh Glazier B. D. and Canon of Christ's-Church Canterbury succeeded in the Office of Commissary to the Arch-bishop fo◠Calais He was once a Friar but afterwards favoured the Reformation He was put up to preach at Paul's Cross the first Lent after King Edward came to the Crown and then asserted the observation of Lent to be but of human Institution This Year the Cathedral Church of Canterbury was altered from Monks to Secular Men of the Clergy viz. Prebendaries or Canons Petticanons Choristers and Scholars At this Erection were present Thomas Cranmer Arch-bishop the Lord Rich Chancellor of the Court of the Augmentation of the Revenues of the Crown Sir Christopher Hales Knight the King's Attorney Sir Anthony Sentleger Knight with divers other Commissioners And nominating and electing such convenient and fit Persons as should serve for the Furniture of the said Cathedral Church according to the
Apostles S. Peter S. Paul S. Andrew c. The Prayer for the King nameth K. Henry VIII and his gracious Son Prince Edward In the Kalendar Thomas a Becket's Days are still retained in red Letters But I suppose that was done of course by the Printer using the old Kalendar In the same Book is a large and pious Paraphrase on Psalm LI. A Dialogue between the Father and the Son Meditations on Christ's Passion and many other things By somewhat that happened this Year the Arch-bishop proved very instrumental in promoting the Reformation of corrupt Religion in the Neighbouring Nation of Scotland which this Year had received a great Overthrow by the English Army and great Numbers of Scotish Noblemen and Gentlemen were taken Prisoners and brought up to London and after disposed of in the Houses of the English Nobility and Gentry under an easy Restraint The Earl of Cassillis was sent to Lambeth where the good Arch-bishop shewed him all Respects in providing him with Necessaries and Conveniences but especially in taking care of his Soul He detected to him the great Errors of Popery and the Reasons of those Regulations that had been lately made in Religion in England And so successful was the Arch-bishop herein that the Earl went home much enlightned in true Religion which that Nation then had a great aversion to for they highly misliked the Courses King Henry took Which Prejudices the King understanding endeavoured to take off by sending Barlow Bishop of S. Davids to Scotland with the Book of The Institution of a Christian Man Which nevertheless made no great Impression upon that People But this that happened to the Scotish Nobility that were now taken Prisoners and especially this Guest of the Arch-bishop becoming better enclined to Religion by the Knowledg they received while they remained here had a happier Effect and brought on the Reformation that after happened in that Kingdom The Parliament being summoned in Ianuary in order to the King 's making War with France whither he intended to go in Person the Arch-bishop resolved to try this Occasion to do some good Service again for Religion which had of late received a great stop His Endeavour now was to moderate the severe Acts about Religion and to get some Liberty for the Peoples reading of the Scripture Cranmer first made the Motion and four Bishops viz. Worcester Hereford Chichester and Rochester seconded him But Winchester opposed the Arch-bishop's Motion with all earnestness And the Faction combined with so much Violence that these Bishops and all other fell off from the Arch-bishop and two of them endeavoured to perswade the Arch-bishop to desist at present and to stay for a better Opportunity But he refused and followed his Stroke with as much vigour as he could and in fine by his perswasion with the King and the Lords a Bill past And the King was the rather inclined thereunto because he being now to go abroad upon a weighty Expedition thought convenient to leave his Subjects at home as easy as might be So with much struggling an Act was past intituled An Act for the Advancement of True Religion and the Abolishment of the contrary In this Act as Tindal's Translation of the Scriptures was forbidden to be kept or used so other Bibles were allowed to some Persons excepting the Annotations and Preambles which were to be cut or dashed out And the King 's former Proclamations and Injunctions with the Primers and other Books printed in English for the Instruction of the People before the Year 1540 were still to be in force which it seems before were not And that every Nobleman and Gentleman might have the Bible read in their Houses and that Noble Ladies and Gentlewomen and Merchants might read it themselves But no Men or Women under those Degrees That every Person might read and teach in their Houses the Book set out in the Year 1540 which was The necessary Erudition of a Christian Man with the Psalter Primer Pater noster Ave and Creed in English But when Winchester and his Party saw that they could not hinder the Bill from passing they clogged it with Provisoes that it came short of what the Arch-bishop intended it as that the People of all sorts and conditions universally might not read the Scriptures but only some few of the higher Rank And that no Book should be printed about Religion without the King's Allowance And that the Act of the Six Articles should be in the same Force it was before A Bishop Consecrated Iune the 25 th being Sunday Paul Bush Provincial of the Bonhommes was consecrated the first Bishop of Bristol by Nicolas Bishop of Rochester assisted by Thomas Bishop of Westminster and Iohn Suffragan of Bedford This Consecration was celebrated in the Parish-Church of Hampton in the Diocess of Westminster CHAP. XXV Presentments at a Visitation BY the Act above-mentioned the generality of the People were restrained from reading the Holy Scriptures But in lieu of it was set forth by the King and his Clergy in the Year 1543 a Doctrine for all his Subjects to use and follow which was the Book abovesaid and all Books that were contrary to it were by Authority of Parliament condemned It was printed in London by Thomas Barthelet This Book the Arch-bishop enjoined to be made publick in his Diocess as I suppose it was in all other Diocesses throughout the Kingdom and allowed no preaching or arguing against it And when one Mr. Ioseph once a Friar in Canterbury now a learned and earnest Preacher and who was afterward preferred to Bow-Church in London had attempted to preach against some things in the Book the Arch-bishop checked and forbad him For indeed there were some Points therein which the Arch-bishop himself did not approve of foisted into it by Winchester's Means and Interest at that time with the King Which Bishop politickly as well as flatteringly called it The King's Book a Title which the Arch-Bishop did not much like for he knew well enough Winchester's Hand was in it And so he told him plainly in K. Edward's Time when he might speak his Mind telling him in relation thereunto That he had seduced the King But because of the Authority of the Parliament ratifying the Book and the many good and useful Things that were in it the Arch-bishop introduced and countenanced it in his Diocess and would not allow open preaching against it The Arch-bishop about the Month of September held a Visitation in Canterbury chiefly because of the Jangling of the Preachers and the divers Doctrines vented among them according as their Fancies Interests or Judgments led them The Visitation proceeded upon the King's Injunctions and other late Ordinances And here I shall set down before the Reader some of the Presentments as I take them from an Original in a Volume that belonged to this Archbishop Wherein notice may be taken what ignorance was then in some of the Priests what
bandying against one another and what good Progress the Gospel did begin to make and what good Numbers of Priests and Lay-men there were that savoured of the Gospel-Doctrine Sir Humphrey Chirden Parson of S. Elphins on a Sunday in Lent said If Iudas had gone to God and confessed his Fault saying Peccavi as he went unto the Priests he had not been damned This Passage was plain enough levelled against confessing to a Priest But this was presentable because against the Six Articles One Lancaster the Parson of Pluckley was presented because that when one Giles said That he blessed himself daily and nightly saying In nomine Patris Filii Sp. Sancti and then said In the Honour of God and our Lady and all the company of Heaven and for all Christen Souls that God would have prayed for a Pater-noster an Ave and a Creed the said Parson said to him That if he knew it of Truth that the said Giles used the same form of Prayer he would not accompany him nor once drink with him Vincent Ingeam a Justice of Peace I suppose commanded on Easter Munday 33 o of the King that no Man should read or hear the Bible read upon pain of Imprisonment and cast two into Prison the one for speaking against him therein and the other for showing him the King's Injunctions concerning the same He repugned against the Doings of the Commissary for taking down the Image of S. Iohn by the King's Commandment Where I find among other witnesses to this one Daniel Cranmer a Relation doubtless of the Arch-bishop Sir Thomas Curate of Sholden and Thomas Sawier set up again four Images which by the King's Commandment were taken down for Abuses by Pilgrimages and Offerings viz. S. Nicolas S. Stephen S. Laurence and our Lady Another accused for forsaking his own Parish-Church at the time of Easter two Years together not liking his Parish-Priest for his affection to the Gospel and for going to Walsingham in Pilgrimage and that he would at no time shew to the Vicar a lawful Certificate that he had received the Blessed Sacrament at the time commonly accustomed as a Christen Man ought to do And obstinately refused to learn his Pater Noster Ave Credo and Ten Commandments in English according to the King's Injunctions Sir Edward Sponer Vicar of Boughton had not declared to his Parishioners the right use of Ceremonies neither shewed the difference between them and Works commanded by God as he is commanded by the King's Proclamation He had not preached against the Bishop of Rome his usurped Power and set forth the King's Supremacy as he is bound by the King's Injunctions and other his Proceedings He hath not preached his Quarters Sermons neither at Boughton nor at his Benefice in the Mersh He never declared that the Even of such Saints whose Days be abrogated be no Fasting-days The Arch-deacon of Canterbury that was Edmund the Archbishop's Brother the morrow after the Ascension was three Years took out of the Church of S. Andrews in Canterbury three lamp Tapers brenning before the Sacrament and a Coat from a Rood and did violently break the Arms and Legs of the Rood Sir William Kemp Vicar of Northgate had not read the Bible since Pentecost as he was commanded by the Ordinary He doth not declare to his Parishioners the right use of Holy Water Holy Bread bearing of Candles upon Candlemassday giving of Ashes bearing of Palms creeping to the Cross. For lack wherof the most part of the said Parish be as ignorant in such things as ever they were And many of them do abuse Holy Water insomuch that against Tempests of Thunder and Lightning many run to the Church for Holy Water to cast about their Houses to drive away Evil Spirits and Devils notwithstanding the King's Proclamations in the same He hath not read to them the King's Injunctions as he ought to do by reason whereof his Parish be blind and ignorant in them Bartholomew Ioy confessed to his Curate in general saying I am a Sinner And when the Vicar asked him wherein he had sinned he answered that he had confessed himself to the Lord already and that he would make none other Confession at that time and so departed Iohn Tofts Christopher Levenysh Bartholomew Ioy in the 30 th of the King pulled down all the Pictures in the Church of Northgate in Canterbury except only the Rood Mary and Iohn the Twelve Apostles the Picture of our Lady and S. Iohn Baptist. And in the thirty fourth of the King Tofts pulled down the Picture of our Lady and had her and the Tabernacle home to his House and there did hew her all to Pieces And at another time the same Tofts openly with a loud Voice read the Bible in English in the Church to his Wife Sterkies Wife George Tofts Wife to the Midwife of the same Parish and to as many others as then were present Ioanna Meriwether of S. Mildreds Parish for displeasure that she bare towards a young Maid named Elizabeth Celsay and her Mother made a Fire upon the Dung of the said Elizabeth and took a holy Candle and dropt upon the said Dung And she told unto her Neighbours that the said Enchantment would make the Cule of the said Maid to divide into two parts Rafe the Bell-ringer of Christ-Church at the Burial of Dr. Champion the Arch-bishop's Chaplain after the Priest had censed his Grave and a Boy was bearing away the Censers and the Coals called after the Boy and took the Censers and poured the hot Coals upon him in his Grave to the great slander of the said Dr. Champion as though he had been an Heretic worthy burning Also he said the King was content that all Images should be honoured as they were wont to be Coxson Petty Canon of Christ-Church made his Testament by the advice of Mr. Parkhurst Mr. Sandwich and Mr. Mills Canons of the said Church and gave and bequeathed to every Vicar of Christ-Church twenty Pence that had a pair of Beads and would say our Lady Psalter for his Soul departed And this was executed according to the Will The Parson of Alyngton never preached in the Church of Alyngton nor declared against the usurped Power of the Bishop of Rome nor set forth the King's Supremacy according to the King's Proclamations Letters and Injunctions He hath been a great setter forth in his Parish of the Maid of Kent Pilgrimages fained Relicks and other such Superstitions and yet never recanted and reproved the same according to the King's Majesty's Injunctions He hath not declared to his Parishioners that the Eves of such Holy-days as be abrogate be no Fasting-days according to the King's Injunctions So upon the Sundays Candlemass-day Ash-wednesday Palm-Sunday and Good-Friday he hath not declared the true use of the Ceremonies used those Days according to the King's Proclamation The Curate of Stodmersh did dissuade Men from eating of White-meats the last Lent and rebuked them that did eat
Ireland and all other his Highness Dominions And that with my Body Cunning Wit and uttermost of my Power without Guile Fraud or other undue Means I shall observe keep maintain and defend all the King's Majesty's Stiles Titles and Rights with the whole Effects and Contents of the Acts provided for the same and all other Acts and Statutes made and to be made within the Realm in and for that purpose and the Derogation Extirpation and Extinguishment of the usurped and pretended Authority Power and Jurisdiction of the See and Bishop of Rome and all other Foreign Potestates as afore And also as well his Statute made in the said 28 th Year as his Statute made in the Parliament holden in the 35 th Year of the King's Majesty's Reign for Establishment and Declaration of his Highness Succession and all Acts and Statutes made and to be made in Confirmation and Corroboration of the King's Majesty's Power and Supremacy in Earth of his Church of England and of Ireland and all other his Grace's Dominions I shall also defend and maintain with my Body and Goods with all my Wit and Power And thus I shall do against all manner of Persons of what State Dignity Degree or Condition soever they be and in no wise do nor attempt nor to my Power suffer or know to be done or attempted directly or indirectly any thing or things privily or apertly to the let hindrance damage or derogation of any of the said Statutes or any part thereof by any manner of Means or for or by any manner of Pretence And in case any Oath hath been made by me to any Person or Persons in Maintenance Defence or Favour of the Bishop of Rome or his Authority Jurisdiction or Power or against any the Statutes aforesaid I repute the same as vain and adnichilate I shall wholly observe and keep this Oath So help me God and all Saints and the Holy Evangeles And then after this Oath followed the Prayers before the Benediction of the Pall and the Ceremonies of delivering it CHAP. XXX The Arch-bishop Reformeth the Canon Law OUR Arch-bishop seeing the great Evil and Inconvenience of Canons and Papal Laws which were still in Force and studied much in the Kingdom had in his Mind now a good while to get them suppressed or to reduce them into a narrower Compass and to cull out of them a set of just and wholsome Laws that should serve for the Government of the Ecclesiastical State And indeed there was great need of some Reformation of these Laws For most of them extolled the Pope unmeasurably and made his Power to be above that of Emperors and Kings Some of them were That he that acknowledged not himself to be under the Bishop of Rome and that the Pope is ordained of God to have the Primacy over the World is an Heretick That Princes Laws if they be against the Canons and Decrees of the Bishop of Rome be of no Force That all the Decrees of the Bishop of Rome ought to be kept perpetually as God's Word spoken by the Mouth of Peter That all Kings Bishops and Noblemen that believe or suffer the Bishop of Rome's Decrees in any thing to be violated are accursed That the See of Rome hath neither Spot nor Wrinkle And abundance of the like which the Arch-bishop himself drew out of the Canon Laws and are set down by the Bishop of Sarum in his History Therefore by the Arch-bishop's Motion and Advice the King had an Act past the last Year viz. 1544. That his Majesty should have Authority during his Life to name thirty two Persons that is to say sixteen Spiritual and sixteen Temporal to examine all Canons Constitutions and Ordinances Provincial and Synodal and to draw up such Laws Ecclesiastical as should be thought by the King and them convenient to be used in all Spiritual Courts According to this Act tho it seems this Nomination hapned some time before the making of the same the King nominated several Persons to study and prepare a Scheme of good Laws for the Church Who brought their Business to a Conclusion and so it rested for a time The Archbishop being now to go down into Kent to meet some Commissioners at Sittingborn went to Hampton-Court to take his leave of the King There he put him in mind of these Ecclesiastical Laws and urged him to ratify them So the King bad him dispatch to him the Names of the Persons which had been chiefly left to Cranmer's Election and the Book they had made This care he going out of Town left with Heth Bishop of Rochester So that these Laws by the great Pains of the Arch-bishop and some Learned Men about him were brought to that good Perfection that they wanted nothing but the Confirmation of the King And there was a Letter drawn up ready for that purpose for the King to sign It was directed to all Arch-bishops Bishops Abbots Clerks Dukes Marquesses Earls Barons Knights and Gentlemen and all others of whatsoever Degree his Subjects and Liege-men Giving them to understand That in the room of the corrupt Laws Decrees and Statutes that proceeded from the Bishops of Rome which were all abolished he had put forth by his Authority another Set of Ecclesiastical Laws which he required to be observed under pain of his Indignation The Copy of this Letter may be read in the Appendix But whatsoever the Matter was whether it were the King 's other Business or the secret Oppositions of Bishop Gardiner and the Papists this Letter was not signed by the King I have seen the Digest of these Ecclesiastical Laws in a Manuscript in Folio fairly written out by the Arch-bishop's Secretary with the Title to each Chapter prefixed and the Index of the Chapters at the beginning both of the Arch-bishop's own Hand In many places there be his own Corrections and Additions and sometimes a Cross by him struck through divers Lines And so he proceeded a good way in the Book And where the Arch-bishop left off Peter Martyr went on by his Order to revise the rest in the Method he had begun And in the Title De Praescriptionibus the greatest part of the seventh Chapter is Martyr's own writing viz. beginning at this word Rumpitur which is in Pag. 248. of the printed Book Lin. 23. and so to the end of the Chapter So that this Manuscript I conjecture was the first Draught of these Laws prepared in the Reign of King Henry and revised in the Reign of King Edward his Successor when P. Martyr was appointed by that King's Letters to be one of those that were to be employed in this Work who was much at this Time with the Arch-bishop In this Draught were several Chapters afterwards added partly by Cranmer and partly by Martyr There was yet a latter and more perfect Draught of these Laws as they were compleated and finished in King Edward's Reign This Draught fell into the
both as to their Lodgings and Benefits But at a late Chapter they had obtained an Order in their behalf This the Arch-bishop now who favoured Preaching reminded them speedily to make good Concerning both these Affairs he wrote this Letter to them for the preserving Quietness Peace and good Order in his Church AFter my hearty Commendations Whereas I am informed that you be in doubt whether any Prebendary of that my Church may exchange his House or Garden with another Prebend of the same Church-Living and that you be moved by this Statute so to think which here followeth Statuimus ut Canonicus de novo Electus demissus in demortui aut resignantis aut quovismodo cedentis aedes succedat These be to signify unto you that neither this Statute nor any other Reason that I know maketh any thing against the Exchange between two Prebends Living but that they may change House Orchard or Garden during their Life this Statute or any other Reason contrary notwithstanding And whereas you have appointed your Preachers at your last Chapter their Chambers and Commodities I require you that they may be indelayedly admitted thereunto according to that your Order Thus fare you well From my Mannor of Croyden the 12 th of December 1546. Th. Cantuariens To my loving Friends the Vice-dean and Prebendaries of my Church in Canterbury This was the last Year of King Henry And the two last things the Arch-bishop was concerned in by the King were these The King commanded him to pen a Form for the Alteration of the Mass into a Communion For a Peace being concluded between Henry and the French King while that King's Ambassador Dr. Annebault was here a notable Treaty was in hand by both Kings for the promoting that good Piece of Reformation in the Churches of both Kingdoms of abolishing the Mass. The Kings seemed to be firmly resolved thereon intending to exhort the Emperor to do the same The Work our King committed to the Arch-bishop who no question undertook it very gladly But the Death of the King prevented this taking Effect The last Office the Arch-bishop did for the King his Master was to visit him in his last Sickness whom of all his Bishops and Chaplains he chose to have with him at that needful Hour to receive his last Comfort and Counsel But the King was void of Speech when he came though not of Sense and Apprehension For when the King took him by the Hand the Arch-bishop speaking comfortably to him desired him to give him some Token that he put his Trust in God through Iesus Christ according as he had advised him and thereat the King presently wrung hard the Arch-bishop's Hand and soon after departed viz. Ianuary the 28 th The End of the First Book MEMORIALS OF Arch-Bishop CRANMER BOOK II. CHAPTER I. He Crowns King Edward OUR Arch-bishop having lost his old Master was not so sorrowful but the Hopefulness of the new One did as much revive and solace him because he concluded that the Matters requisite for the Reformation of the Church were like now to go on more roundly and with less Impediment One of the very first Things that was done in young King Edward the Sixth's Reign in relation to the Church was that the Bishops who had the Care of Ecclesiastical Matters and the Souls of Men should be made to depend intirely upon the King and his Council and to be subject to suspension from their Office and to have their whole Episcopal Power taken from them at his Pleasure which might serve as a Bridle in case they should oppose the Proceedings of a Reformation In this I suppose the Arch-bishop had his Hand For it was his Judgment that the Exercise of all Episcopal Jurisdiction depended upon the Prince And that as he gave it so he might restrain it at his Pleasure And therefore he began this Matter with himself Petitioning That as he had exercised the Authority of an Arch-bishop during the Reign of the former King so that Authority ending with his Life it would please the present King Edward to commit unto him that Power again For it seemed that he would not act as Arch-bishop till he had a new Commission from the new King for so doing And that this was his Judgment appeared in the first words of that Commission granted to him In the composing of which I make no question he had his Hand Quandoquidem omnis juris dicendi autoritas atque etiam jurisdictio omnimoda tam illa quae Ecclesiastica dicitur quam Secularis à Regia potestate velut à supremo capite ac omnium Magistratuum infra Regnum nostrum fonte scaturigine primitus emanaverit c. That is Since all Authority of exercising Jurisdiction and also all kind of Jurisdiction as well that which is called Ecclesiastical as Secular originally hath flowed from the King's Power as from the Supream Head and the Fountain and Source of all Magistracy within our Kingdom We therefore in this part yielding to your humble Supplications and consulting for the Good of our Subjects have determined to commit our Place to you under the Manner and Form hereunder described And the King then licenseth him to ordain within his Diocess and to promote and present to Ecclesiastical Benefices and to institute and invest and if occasion required to deprive to prove Testaments and the rest of the Business of his Courts And so all the rest of his Offices were reckoned This was dated Feb. 7. 1546. But yet all these things were committed to him with a Power of Revocation of the Exercise of this Authority reserved in the King durante beneplacito Thus a formal Commission was made to him I do not transcribe it because the Bishop of Sarum hath saved me that Pains And hence I find that the Arch-bishop in some of his Writings is stiled The Commissary of our dread Soveraign Lord King Edward One of the first Exercises of his Episcopal Power was the Coronation of young King Edward Which was celebrated February the 20 th at the Abbey of Westminster the Arch-bishop assisting now at his Coronation as he had done about nine Years before at his Christening when he stood his Godfather The Form and Solemnity of it and wherein the Arch-bishop bore so great a part was in this manner as I collect and transcribe out of a Manuscript in Benet College First There was a goodly Stage richly hanged with Cloth of Gold and Cloth of Arras and the Steps from the Choire contained two and twenty Steps of height and down to the high Altar but fifteen Steps goodly carpetted where the King's Grace should tread with his Nobles Secondly The high Altar richly garnished with divers and costly Jewels and Ornaments of much Estimation and Value And also the Tombs on each side the high Altar richly hanged with fine Gold Arras Thirdly In the midst of the Stage was a goodly thing
addicted to the old Superstition would commonly disturb the Preachers in his Church when he liked not their Doctrine by causing the Bells to be rung when they were at the Sermon and sometimes beginning to sing in the Choir before the Sermon were half done and sometimes by challenging the Preacher in the Pulpit For he was a strong stout Popish Prelat Whom therefore the Godly-disposed of the Parish were weary of and especially some of the eminentest Men at Limâ—hurst whose Names were Driver Ive Poynter March and others But they durst not meddle with him until one Vnderhil of the Band of Gentlemen-Pensioners of a good Family and well respected at Court came to live at Limehurst He being the King's Servant took upon him to reprehend this Abbot for these and such-like his Doings and by his Authority carried him unto Croyden to the Arch-bishop there the Persons above-named going along as Witnesses In fine the mild Arch-bishop sent him away with a gentle Rebuke and bad him to do no more so This Lenity offended Vnderhil who said My Lord methinks you are too gentle unto so stout a Papist To which Cranmer replied Well we have no Law to punish them by No Law my Lord said the other If I had your Authority I would be so bold to unvicar him or minister some sharp Punishment upon him and such other If ever it come to their Turn they will shew you no such Favour Well said the good Arch-bishop if God so provide we must abide it Surely replied the other again God will never con you Thanks for this but rather take the Sword from such as will not use it upon his Enemies And so they parted And this indeed was the constant Behaviour of the Arch-bishop towards Papists and such as were his Enemies For which he was now and at other times taxed by Men of hotter Spirits but his Opinion was that Clemency and Goodness as it was more agreeable to the Gospel which he laboured to adorn so was more likely to obtain the Ends he desired than Rigour and Austerity The Arch-bishop did one thing more this Year of good Conducement to the promoting true Religion and exposing False and that was in countenancing and licensing an earnest Preacher in the South-West Parts named Thomas Hancock a Master of Arts whose Mouth had been stopped by a strict Inhibition from Preaching in the former King's Reign The Arch-bishop saw well what a useful Man he had been in those parts of England where he frequented having been a very diligent Preacher of the Gospel and Declaimer against Papal Abuses in the Diocesses of two bigotted Bishops Gardiner of Winchester and Capon of Sarum In this first Year of the King many zealous Preachers of the Gospel without staying for publick Orders from Above earnestly set forth the Evangelical Doctrine in confutation of the Sacrifice of the Mass and the Corporal Presence in the Sacrament and such like And of the Laity there were great numbers every where especially in populous Towns of such as did now more openly shew their Heads and their good Inclinations to the New Learning as it was then called In Southampton of the Diocess of Winchester in Salisbury Pool and Dorset of the Diocess of Sarum did this Hancock chiefly converse and officiate in the latter end of K. Henry When he was suspended à Celebratione Divinorum by Dr. Raynold Commissary under Dr. Steward then Chancellor to Bp Gardiner upon pretence of the Breach of the Act of Six Articles because he had taught out of the Ninth to the Hebrews That our Saviour Christ entred once into the Holy Place by the which he obtained unto us everlasting Redemption That he once suffered and that his Body was once offered to take away the Sins of many People And that one only Oblation sufficed for the Sins of the whole World And though all this was but mere Scripture yet they found it to contradict their Notions and therefore they thought convenient to suspend him But as these Bishops did what they could to stifle all Preaching of God's Word so the Arch-bishop's Principle was to encourage and send forth Preachers So Hancock notwithstanding his former Suspension obtained a Licence from our Arch-bishop to preach Now to follow this Preacher a little after his Licence obtained At Christ-Church Twinham in the County of Southampton where he was born as I take it from his own Narration he preached out of the Sixteenth Chapter of S. Iohn The Holy Ghost shall reprove the World of Sin of Righteousness c. because I go to the Father The Priest being then at Mass Hancock declared unto the People That that the Priest held over his Head they did see with their bodily Eyes but our Saviour Christ doth here say plainly that we shall see him no more Then you saith he that do kneel unto it pray unto it and honour it as God do make an Idol of it and your selves do commit most horrible Idolatry Whereat the Vicar Mr. Smith sitting in his Chair in the face of the Pulpit spake these words Mr. Hancock you have done well until now and now have you plaid an ill Cow's part which when she hath given a good Mess of Milk overthroweth all with her Foot and so all is lost And with these words he got him out of the Church Also in this first Year of the King the same Person preached in S. Thomas Church at Salisbury Dr. Oking Chancellor to Bishop Capon and Dr. Steward Chancellor to Bishop Gardiner being present with divers others of the Clergy and Laity His place was Every Plant which my Heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted out Whence he inveighed against the Superstitious Ceremonies Holy Bread Holy Water Images Copes Vestments c. And at last against the Idol of the Altar proving it to be an Idol and no God by the First of S. Iohn's Gospel No Man hath seen God at any time with other places of the Old Testament But that the Priest held over his Head they did see kneeled before it honoured it and so made an Idol of it And therefore they were most horrible Idolaters Whereat the Doctors and certain of the Clergy went out of the Church Hancock seeing them departing charged them They were not of God because they refused to hear the Word of God But when the Sermon was ended Thomas Chaffen the Mayor set on as is likely by some of the Clergy came to him laying to his Charge the Breach of a Proclamation lately set forth by the Lord Protector That no Nick-names should be given unto the Sacrament as Round-Robin or Iack in the Box. Whereto he replied That it was no Sacrament but an Idol as they used it But for all this Excuse the Mayor had committed him to Jail had not Six honest Men been bound for his Appearance the next Assizes to make his Answer As Dr. Ieffery about this time had committed two to Prison for the like
Sobriety and Diligence in their Vocation and the People to Loyalty and Obedience to the King and the sincere worshipping of God Concerning the Priests he ordered enquiry to be made Whether they preached four times a Year against the usurped Power of the Bishop of Rome and in behalf of the King's Power and Authority within his own Realms Whether in their Common-Prayers they used not the Collects made for the King and mentioned not his Majesty's Name in the same Whether they had destroyed and taken away out of the Churches all Images and Shrines Tables Candlesticks Trindals or Rolls of Wax and all other Monuments of feigned Miracles Idolatry and Superstition and moved their Parishioners to do the same in their own Houses Enquiries were made concerning their due Administration of the Sacraments concerning their preaching God's Word once at least in a Quarter and then exhorting their Parishioners to Works commanded by Scripture and not to Works devised by Mens Fancies as wearing and praying upon Beads and such-like Concerning the plain reciting the Lord's Prayer the Creed and Ten Commandments in English immediately after the Gospel as often as there were no Sermon Concerning the examining of every one that came to Confession in Lent whether they were able to say the Creed the Lord's Prayer and Ten Commandments in English Concerning the having Learned Curats to be procured by such as were absent from their Benefices Concerning having the whole Bible of the largest Volume in every Church and Erasmus's Paraphrase in English Concerning teaching the People of the Nature of the Fast of Lent and other Days in the Year that it was but a mere positive Law Concerning Residence upon Benefices and keeping Hospitality Concerning finding a Scholar in the Universities oâ— some Grammar-School incumbent on such Priests as had an hundred pounds a Year Concerning moving the Parishioners to pray rather in English than in a Tongue unknown and not to put their Trust in saying over a number of Beads Concerning having the New Testament in Latin and English and Erasmus's Paraphrase which all Priests under the Degree of Batchelors in Divinity were examined about Concerning putting out of the Church-Books the Name of Papa and the Name and Service of Thomas Becket and the Prayers that had Rubricks containing Pardons and Indulgences And many the like Articles Which may be seen by him that will have recourse to them as they are printed in Bishop Sparrow's Collections Those Articles that related to the Laity were Concerning the Letters or Hinderers of the Word of God read in English or preached sincerely Concerning such as went out of the Church in time of the Litany or Common-Prayer or Sermon Concerning ringing Bells at the same time Concerning such as abused the Ceremonies as casting Holy Water upon their Beds bearing about them Holy Bread S. Iohn's Gospel keeping of private Holy-days as Taylors Bakers Brewers Smiths Shoemakers c. did Concerning the misbestowing of Money arising from Cattel or other moveable Stocks of the Church as for finding of Lights Torches Tapers or Lamps and not employed to the poor Man's Chest. Concerning abusing Priests and Ministers Concerning praying upon the English Primer set forth by the King and not the Latin for such as understand not Latin Concerning keeping the Church-Holy-day and the Dedication-day any otherwise or at any other time than was appointed Concerning Commoning and Jangling in the Church at the time of reading the Common-Prayer or Homilies or when there was preaching Concerning maintenance of Error and Heresy Concerning common Swearers Drunkards Blasphemers Adulterers Bawds Enquiries were also to be made after such as were common Brawlers Slanderers such as used Charms Sorceries Inchantments and Witchcraft such as contemned their own Parish-Church and went else-where Concerning Marrying within the Degrees prohibited and without asking the Bannes Concerning the honest discharge of Wills and Testaments in such as were Executors or Administrators Concerning such as contemned married Priests and refused to receive the Communion and other Sacraments at their Hands Concerning such as kept in their own Houses Images Tables Pictures Painting or Monuments of fained Miracles undefaced c. In this Year also the Arch-bishop with the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury granted the Patronage Rectory c. of Riâ—eborough Monachorum in the County of Bucks to the Lord Windsor for fourscore and nineteen Years And in Exchange the said Lord granted to the Arch-bishop the Advouson Patronage and Nomination of Midley in Kent for the same duration of Years September the 9 th being Sunday Robert Farrar D. D. was Consecrated Bishop of S. Davids by Thomas Arch-bishop of Canterbury endued with his Pontificals and assisted by Henry Bishop of Lincoln and Nicolas Bishop of Rochester at Chertsey in the Diocess of Winton in the Arch-bishop's House there Then certain Hymns Psalms and Prayers being recited together with a Portion of Scripture read in the vulgar Tongue out of S. Paul's Epistles and the Gospel of S. Matthew the Arch-bishop celebrated the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ. There communicated the Reverend Fathers Thomas Bishop of Ely Thomas Bishop of Westminster Henry Bishop of Lincoln Nicolas Bishop of Rochester and Farrar the new Bishop together with William May Dean of S. Pauls Simon Hains Dean of Exon Thomas Robertson and Iohn Redman Professors of Divinity and others The Arch-bishop then distributed the Communion in English Words This Bishop as it is writ in the Margin of the Register was the first that was consecrated upon the bare Nomination of the King according to the Statute that for that purpose was published in the first Year of his Reign The Form of the King's Letters Patents whereby he constituted Farrar Bishop is extant in the Register dated from Leghes August 1. in the second Year of his Reign At this Bishop of S. Davids I will stay a little proving unhappy by his Preferment unto a Church whose Corruptions while he endeavoured to correct he sunk under his commendable Endeavours He was an active Man and made much use of in Publick Affairs in K. Henry and K. Edward's Days having been first a Canon of S. Mary's in Oxon. He was with Bp Barlow when he was by K. Henry sent Ambassador to Scotland An. 1535. Another time employed in carrying old Books of great Value from S. Oswalds a dissolved Monastery as it seems unto the Arch-bishop of York And in the Royal Visitation in the beginning of King Edward he was one of the King's Visitors being appointed one of the Preachers for his great Ability in that Faculty And being Chaplain to the Duke of Somerset was by his means advanced to be Bishop and upon his Fall he fell into great Troubles This Bishop not long after his first entrance upon his Bishoprick resolved to visit his Diocess like a careful Pastor hearing of very great Corruptions in it and particularly among those that belonged to the Chapter of the Church of Carmarthen and chiefly Thomas
them obliquely therewith And in fine he wrote that He and those with him knew more than they did to whom they writ Probably he meant that he knew that this Anger against the Duke arose from the private Malice of some of them or their Hatred of the Reformation notwithstanding all the fair Pretences of their Care of the King and the Protector 's Misgovernment This Letter the Lords from Ely-house answered Charging and commanding the Arch-bishop and those with him to have a continual earnest watch of the King's Person and that he be not removed from Windsor-Castle as they would answer the same at their utmost Perils They wondred much they said that they would suffer the King's Royal Person to remain in the Guard of the Duke's Men and that Strangers should be Armed with the King's Armour and be nearest about his Person For it seems many of the King's Servants in this Fear were removed away They advised the Arch-bishop and the Lord Paget to come over to their Side and to leave the poor Duke alone Upon this the Arch-bishop and the others wrote a second Letter dated October the 10 th Wherein they assured the Lords that they could whensoever they pleased to require it give such very good Reasons for their so often mentioning Cruelty in their other Letter as they questioned not they would be well satisfied with And so upon the Lord 's propounding a Meeting with the King and them they accorded thereunto in great prudence willing for Peace and Quietness in that dangerous Time so to do These Letters are recorded in the History of the Reformation The Common-Prayer-Book and Administration of the Sacraments by the great care and study of the Arch-bishop was now finished and settled by Act of Parliament which would not down with a great many But upon the taking up of the Duke of Somerset in the Month of October and laying him in the Tower it was generally said that now the old Latin-Service should come in again the common Opinion being that the Common-Prayer was peculiarly of his procuring And that there were such Designs among Somerset's Enemies who were generally favourers of the old Religion it is not improbable The good Arch-bishop thought it now time to interpose in this thing and to obtain from the Privy-Council somewhat to confirm the Book of Common-Prayer So there was in Decemb. 25. a general Letter drawn up to all the Bishops of England Letting them understand That there was no intention of bringing in again Latin-Service conjured Bread and Water nor any such abrogated Ceremonies And that the abolishing of these and the setting forth of the Book of Common-Prayer was done by the whole State of the Realm That the Book was grounded upon the Holy Scripture and was agreeable to the Order of the Primitive Church and much to the edifying of the Subject And therefore that the changing of that for the old Latin-Service would be a preferring of Ignorance to Knowledg Darkness to Light and a preparation to bring in Papistry and Superstition again The Bishops therefore were bid with all speed to command their Deans and Prebendaries and all Parsons Vicars and Curates to bring to such Places as the Bishops should appoint all Antiphoners Missals c. and all other Books of Service and that they be defaced and abolished that they be no let to that Godly and uniform Order set forth And to commit to Ward any stubborn and disobedient Persons that brought not the said Books and to certify the Council of their Misbehaviour That they should make search if any of these Superstitious Books were withdrawn or hid That whereas there were some Persons who refused to contribute to the buying of Bread and Wine for the Communion according to the Order of the Book whereby many-times the Holy Communion was fain to be omitted to convent such Persons before them and admonish them and if they refused to do accordingly to punish them by Suspension Excommunication or other Censure This was signed by the Arch-bishop and the Lord Chancellor Rich and four more CHAP. XIII The Arch-bishop entertains learned Foreigners THE Arch-bishop had now in his Family several Learned Men. Some he sent for from beyond Sea and some in pity he entertained being Exiles for Religion Among the former sort was Martin Bucer a Man of great Learning and Moderation and who bore a great part in the Reformation of Germany While he and the rest abode under his Roof the Arch-bishop still employed them sometimes in learned Conferences and Consultations held with them sometimes in writing their Judgment upon some Subjects in Divinity Here Bucer wrote to the Lady Elizabeth a Letter bearing Date the 6 th of the Calends of September commending her Study in Piety and Learning and exciting her to proceed therein incited so to do I make no doubt by the Arch-bishop whom Bucer in that Letter makes mention of and stileth Patrem suum benignissimum hospitem Hence also he wrote another Letter to the Marquess of Northampton who was a Patron of Learning and a Professor of Religion in the behalf of Sleidan who was promised a Pension by the King to enable him to write the History of the Progress of Religion beginning at Luther A part of the Letter translated into English ran thus Therefore if we should not take care that this so great Act of Divine Goodness towards us viz. the Reformation began in the Year 1517 should be most diligently written and consecrated to Posterity we should lie under the Crime of the neglect of God's Glory and most foul Ingratitude Therefore Iohn Sleidan a very Learned and Eloquent Man five Years ago began to compile an History of this Nature as the Work he had published did witness But after he was much encouraged in this Undertaking and well furnished with Matter the Calamities that befel Germany for our own Deserts intercepted the pious Attempts of this Man so very useful to the Church Nor doth it appear now from whence besides the King's Majesty we may hope that some small Benignity may be obtained for Sleidan since the Salaries which he received for this purpose from the German Princes failed and he was poor That Iohn Alasco Dr. Peter Martyr and he considering these things and weighing how the truly Christian King Edward was even born with a desire of illustrating the Glory of Christ and what need there was to set Sleidan again upon finishing the History of the Gospel restored to us they had therefore presumed to supplicate the King in his behalf and intreated the Marquess to promote and forward their Supplication and to vouchsafe to contribute his Help also We shall hear more of this hereafter I find also Annotations writ by the said Bucer upon S. Matthew reaching as far as the eighth Chapter and there ending in this method There is the Latin Translation with large Notes added in the Margin and at the end of each Chapter common
this Year flying so much upon the Spoil of the Church Bucer by the Arch-bishop's Instigation as well as his own Inclinations wrote to the Marquess of Dorset to forbear disswading him from spoiling the Church of her Maintenance In which Letter he hath these Expressions Antiquum dictum est neminem posse vere ditari furtis aut rapinis quibus invaduntur res alienae multo minus peculatu quo defraudatur Respublica Quem igitur habeat sensum Dei qui dubitet minimè omnium posse cujusquam opes augeri salutariter Sacrilegiis quibus acciduntur res Ecclesiasticae Sunt nimium amplae hae opes addictae Ecclesiis in luxum permulti eas diripiunt Homines planè otiosi nec ullam Reip. conferentes utilitatem Submoveantur igitur hi fuci ab Ecclesiae alvearibus nec depasci permittantur apum labores Deinde procurentur ut restitutis passim Scholis nusquam desint Ecclesiarum frugi ministri c. That is It is an old Saying No body can grow Rich by the stealing and taking away of private Peoples Possessions much less by robbing of the Publick What Sense therfore hath he of God that doubts not that his Riches shall encrease to good purpose that commits Sacrilege and robs the Church of what belongs to it But it is objected the Church hath too much and many spend it in Luxury The Church-men are idle and bring no Profit to the Common-Wealth Let these Drones therefore be removed from the Hives of the Church but let not the Pains of the Bees be eaten up And then having Schools of good Literature every where restored let not the Church want sober Ministers c. A Review was made of the Book of Common-Prayer about the latter end of the Year by Arch-bishop Cranmer and the Bishops Divers things that savoured too much of Superstition were endeavoured to be changed or amended But there were among them some that made what opposition they could The Arch-bishop had now by Wilkes Master of Christ's College desired Bucer that great Divine then at Cambridg that he would take an impartial view of the whole Book having procured him a Translation of it into Latin done by Aless the Learned Scotch Divine for his understanding of it and that he should judg if he thought any thing in the Book might be more explained agreeable with God's Word and for better Edification of Faith Bucer in answer sent the Arch-bishop word first what his Judgment was of the Book and then what Course he intended to use in the Examination of it that he was now to make He said That when he first came into England and by the help of an Interpreter took some knowledg of the Rites and Doctrines of this Church that he might see whether he could join his Ministry with it he thanked God That had inclined the Officers of the Church to reform the Ceremonies to that degree of Purity and that he found nothing in them that was not taken out of the Word of God or at least was not repugnant to it being fitly taken For some few things there were added he that unless they were candidly interpreted might seem not so sufficiently agreeable with the Word of God As for what he was now to do in order to the fulfilling what the Arch-bishop required of him he intended in short Notes at every Chapter of the Book to observe what he thought to be according to God's Word and to be retained and vindicated what to be taken away or mended and what to be more plainly explained and allowed After his perusal of the Book he gave this Judgment in general That in the Description of the Communion and daily Prayers he saw nothing enjoined in the Book but what was agreeable to the Word of God either in Word as the Psalms and Lessons or in Sense as the Collects Also that the Manner of their Lessons and Prayers and the Times of using them were constituted very agreeable both with God's Word and the Observation of the Ancient Churches And therefore that that Book ought to be retained and vindicated with the greatest strictness What particular Animadversions the said Learned Man made upon the Book may be seen in his Scripta Anglicana and in the Bishop of Sarum's History as he hath there abridged them And such a Deference was given to his Judgment that most of the things that he excepted against were corrected accordingly And that the Book might be the more exact and perhaps be the more agreeable to the Doctrine and Practice of Foreign Churches the Arch-bishop recommended the diligent examination of it unto another great Divine Peter Martyr who was now at Lambeth the Arch-bishop desiring him to note what he thought good concerning the Book and because he knew not the Language the Version of Sir Iohn Cheke who had also translated it into Latin was given him He was also requested to set down in writing what he thought deserved Correction And he accordingly made his Annotations Martyr agreed clearly in Judgment with Bucer about the Book as he wrote to him in a Letter sent him to Cambridg extant among Arch-bishop Parker's Manuscripts On the back-side of which Letter is written by that Arch-bishop's own Hand Censura libri communium precum In this Letter Martyr told Bucer that the same things that he disapproved of the same likewise had he P. Martyr done And that afterward he drew them up into Articles and shewed them to the Arch-bishop of Canterbury That to all that Bucer judged ought to be amended he had subscribed and that he thanked God that had given occasion to admonish the Bishops of these things From this Letter it appears that the Arch-bishop had told Martyr that in the Conference among the Divines concerning the Correction of these Publick Prayers it was concluded to make many Alterations But what those things were as the Arch-bishop told him not so neither as he wrote did he dare to ask him But what Cheke told him did not a little refresh him viz. That if they themselves would not change what ought to be changed the King would do it of himself and when they came to a Parliament the King would interpose his Majesty's own Authority CHAP. XVII Hoper's Troubles IN the Month of Iuly Iohn Hoper who had lived long abroad in Germany and in Switzerland and conversed much with Bullinger and Gualâ—er the chief Reformers there but returned into England in King Edward's Reign and retained by the Duke of Somerset and a famous Preacher in the City was nominated by the King to the Bishoprick of Gloucester But by reason of certain Scruples of Conscience he made to the wearing of the old Pontifical Habits as the Chimere and Rochet and such-like and disliking the Oath customarily taken he was not Consecrated till eight Months after and endured not a little Trouble in the mean Season Soon after his nomination he repaired to the Arch-bishop desiring
things should be put in the same posture they were before To which the College by Dr. Haddon's elegant Pen wrot an Answer That as to their abolishing Masses they said they were private Masses and the Statutes of the College did seem to enjoin only Masses wherein was a Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ. That that was not Perjury when by the common Consent of the College some minuter Matters of the Statutes were changed That had he himself been there he would have done as they did considering the Reports that came from the Court brought by Witnesses worthy of Credit And that as for their Disputations they urged that it was free for them to dispute Matters controverted for better Inquiry into the Truth And that it was done with Lenity without any perversness of Speech He had a younger Brother named William who was above forty Years after Bishop of Winton This Man was a Scholar of the College while his Brother was Provost and Bishop To whom he sent once a Request to supply him with a little Money to buy him some Books and other Necessaries he stood in need of at that time His Brother answered him knowing him to be well affected to the Gospel That for his part he held it not fit to relieve those that were not of the True Church and therefore he would not in any wise relieve him Thus had his Religion destroyed in him the very Principles of Nature This Bishop had been a vehement Asserter of Transubstantiation yet in April 1550. he preached against it at Westminster which King Edward thought fit to take notice of in his Journal and he complied and went along with all the Steps of the Reformation till the declining of this Year 1550 when the Matter of taking down Altars was set on Foot For then it seems either there was a Prospect that the Reformation carring on would have a Stop or it was secretly agreed among the Popishly affected now to fall off In Queen Mary's Days he was a mighty busy Man and one of the Commissioners for the examination and condemning to Death the Professors of Religion When in Conference with Bradford that Holy Man had charged him for departing from the Reformed Church as it was in King Edward's Days he told him That he was but a young Man and yet in the first Year of that King he was five or six and forty Years of Age and that coming from the University he went with the World But it was always against his Conscience He could it seems dispense with his Conscience upon Occasion and yet what a Man of Conscience was he when Altars were to be pulled down He sat a Commissioner upon Hoper together with Winchester London Durham and Landaff and however gently he had been used in his Trouble that was forgot and he treated that Reverend Man most rudely undecently falling upon him with foul Words and with a scornful Countenance calling him Hypocrite CHAP. XXI Papists grow bold Loose Professors restrained THUS indeed when the Papists found they could not prevail by outward Force which they had tried to the utmost the last Year they now used other Arts. One among the rest was to libel the Government and disperse scurrilous Rhimes and Ballads upon the Preachers One of these was this Year fastned upon the Pulpit of some eminent Church probably of S. Paul's Which nevertheless soon had an Answer to it And not long after a more witty Ballad was put abroad glancing as it seems at the Arch-bishop upon occasion of the Liberty of reading the Bible and of the English Service and the publishing the Homily-Book and other good Books Whipping the Government under the Person of one Iohn No-body because that notwithstanding all these religious Pretences there was so much Sin Lechery Adultery Bribery and want of Charity A tast of this their Poetry I have put into the Appendix because some probably may be so Curious as to peruse the Fancy of that Age. The Papists were at this Juncture very bold whether it were that they had taken up a Conceit that the old Religion would be again restored upon the Disgrace of the Duke of Somerset or upon some other Reasons To stay these Men the Council as they had proceeded before against some Popish Bishops so they thought fit to use some Rigors towards others noted to be the forwardest Men. One of these was Dr. Chedsey who was one of the Disputants against P. Martyr the King's Professor He took now upon him to preach openly at Oxford against the Steps of the Reformation that were made and making Wherefore March 16 he was commited to the Marshalsea for seditious Preaching Where he lay till November the 11 th 1551. And then he was ordered to be brought to the Bishop of Ely's where he enjoyed his Table and an easier Restraint March 19. Serjeant Morgan was committed to the Fleet for hearing Mass in the Lady Mary's Chappel March 22 Sir Anthony Brown was committed to the Fleet for the same Offence And three days after viz. March 25. Mr. White Warden of Winchester appeared before the Council and confessed that he had divers Books and Letters from beyond Sea and namely from one Martyn a Scholar there who opposed the King's Majesty's Proceedings utterly And it being manifest that he had consented to things of that sort in such wise that greater Practices were thought to be in him that ways he was committed to the Tower where lying for some months he shewed better Conformity in Matters of Religion So that in Iune 14 1551. The Council wrote a Letter to the Arch-bishop that he should send to the Lieutenant of the Tower for Mr. White to be brought to him and with him to remain till such time as he should reclaim him Which being done he was to be sent back again to the Tower until the King's Majesty's further Pleasure upon his Lordship's Certificate of his Proceedings with him This White however he complied now was in Queen Mary's Reign made Bishop successively of Lincoln and Winchester and preached that Queen's Funeral Sermon and was deprived by the next Queen for refusing Conformity to the Religion then established And while the Papists on one hand were so busy in promoting their Ends there were a looser sort of Professors of Religion disgraced the Reformation on the other For some there were that took the liberty of meeting together in certain Places and there to propound odd Questions and vent dangerous Doctrines and Opinions Of these also the Council having notice they thought it very fit to discountenance and restrain them Ianuary 27. A number of Persons a sort of Anabaptists about sixty met in a House on a Sunday in the Parish of Bocking in Essex where arose among them a great Dispute Whether it were necessary to stand or kneel bare-head or covered at Prayers and they concluded the Ceremony not to be material
Which in the Title is said to be composed by R. W. There is also a Hymn of his preserved and set usually at the end of our English singing Psalms in our Bibles beginning Preserve us Lord by thy dear Word He writ here also many godly and learned Sermons upon the Epistles and Gospels read on Sundays He translated a Postil of Antonius Corvinus a Lutheran Divine and divers other Learned Mens Works And some of his Adversaries having laid certain Errors to his Charge very unjustly he writ a Confutation thereof a Book it seems replenish'd with all kind of godly Learning These and several other things he writ while he was here but they were not published After his abode in this Place some time he was by Letters called away again among his former Friends and Acquaintance And what became of him afterwards I find not until here in Edward the Sixth's Reign he was nominated by our Arch-bishop to be made Arch-bishop of Armagh But in Queen Mary's Reign he fled to Frankford where he remained one of the Members of the English Congregation there And when an unhappy Breach was made there among them some being for the use of the Geneva Discipline and Form and others for the continuance of that Form of Prayers that had been used in England in K. Edward's Days and the Faction grew to that Head that the former separated themselves from the rest and departed to Geneva this Wisdome did in a Sermon preached at Frankford vindicate the English Book and somewhat sharply blamed them that went away calling them Mad-heads As one Tho. Cole wrote from thence to a Friend with this Censure on him That he so called them he would not say Vnwisely alluding to his name Wisdom but he might well say Vncharitably I have thought good to give this Account of these Men that we may perceive hence the good Judgment of our Arch-bishop in propounding them for those Irish Preferments so fit and well qualified for them as in other Respects of Prudence and Learning so especially for their tried Zeal and Boldness in preaching the Gospel and their Constancy in suffering for it which were Vertues that there would be great occasion for in Ireland Of all these Four our Arch-bishop judged Mr. Whithead the fittest giving this Character of him That he was endued with good Knowledg special Honesty fervent Zeal and politick Wisdom And the next to him in fitness he judged Turner of whom he gives this Relation That he was Merry and Witty withal Nihil appetit nihil ardet nihil somniat nisi Iesum Christum And in the lively preaching of Him and his Word declared such Diligence Faithfulness and Wisdom as for the same deserveth much Commendation In fine Turner was the Man concluded upon by the King for the Arch-bishoprick of Armagh Whithead either being not overcome to accept it or otherwise designed And the Arch-bishop had Order from Court to send to Canterbury for him to come up Which accordingly he did And now about the middle of September much against his Will as not liking his designed Preferment Turner waited upon the Arch-bishop Who urging to him the King's Will and Pleasure and his ordinary Call unto this Place and such-like Arguments after a great Unwillingness prevailed with him to accept it But the Arch-bishop told the Secretary that Turner seemed more glad to go to hanging which the Rebels three Years before were just going to do with him for his preaching against them in their Camp than he was now to go to Armagh He urged to the Archbishop That if he went thither he should have no Auditors but must preach to the Walls and Stalls for the People understood no English The Arch-bishop on the other hand endeavoured to answer all his Objections He told him They did understand English in Ireland tho whether they did in the Diocess of Armagh he did indeed doubt But to remedy that he advised him to learn the Irish Tongue which with diligence he told him he might do in a Year or two And that there would this Advantage arise thereby that both his Person and Doctrine would be more acceptable not only unto his Diocess but also throughout all Ireland And so by a Letter to Secretary Cecyl recommended him to his Care entreating That he might have as ready a Dispatch as might be because he had but little Money This Letter of the Arch-bishop is dated Sept. 29 1552. So that it must be a Mistake in the late excellent Historian when he writes That Bale and Goodacre were sent over into Ireland to be Bishops in the Month of August Which cannot agree with this Letter of Cranmer which makes Turner to be in nomination only for that See a Month after And by certain Memorials of King Edward's own Hand which I have it appears that as Turner at last got himself off from accepting that Bishoprick so by the Date thereof it is evident it was vacant in October following For the King under that Month put the providing for that Place which Turner refused among his Matters to be remembred The Arch-bishop's Letters concerning this Irish Affair are in the Appendix So that at last this Charge fell upon Hugh Goodacre the last Man as it seems nominated by the Arch-bishop whom he termed A Wise and Learned Man He and Bale as they came together out of Bishop Poynet's Family unto their Preferments so they were consecrated together by Brown Arch-bishop of Dublin Febr. 2. assisted by Thomas Bishop of Kildare and Eugenius Bishop of Down and Connor Which makes me think they were not come over long before Goodacre died about a quarter of a Year after at Dublin and there buried not without suspicion of Poison by procurement of certain Priests of his Diocess for preaching God's Verity and rebuking their common Vices as Bale writes He left many Writings of great Value behind him as the said Bale his dear Friend relates but none as ever I heard of published As he was a sober and vertuous Man so he was particularly famed for his Preaching He was at first I suppose Chaplain to the Lady Elizabeth at least to her he had been long known And for him about the Year 1548 or 1549 she procured a Licence to preach from the Protector as appears by a Letter she wrote from Enfield to Mr. Cecyl who then attended on him Of which Goodacre himself was the Bearer Wherein she gave this Testimony of him That he had been of long time known unto her to be as well of honest Conversation and sober Living as of sufficient Learning and Judgment in the Scriptures to preach the Word of God The advancement whereof as she said she so desired that she wished there were many such to set forth God's Glory She desired him therefore that as heretofore at her Request he had obtained Licence to preach for divers other honest Men so he would recommend this Man's Case unto my Lord
and therewith procure for him the like Licence as to the other had been granted And lastly that Goodacre and his Collegue Bale might find the better Countenance and Authority when they should exercise their Functions in that Country the Privy-Council wrote two Letters to the Lord-Deputy and Council of Ireland the one dated Octob. 27. in commendation of Bale Bishop Elect of Ossory and the other dated Novemb. 4. in commendation of Goodacre Bishop Elect of Armachan CHAP. XXIX The Arch-bishop charged with Covetousness TO divert the King after the loss of his Unkle whom he dearly loved Northumberland took him in Progress in the Summer of this Year While he was in this Progress some about his Person that they might the better make way for their Sacrilegious Designs and to make the King the more inclinable to lay Hands on the Episcopal Demeans or at least to clip and pare them buzzed about the Court Rumours how Rich the Arch-bishop of Canterbury and the other Bishops were and withal how niggardly and unsutably they lived to their great Incomes laying up and scraping together to enrich themselves and their Posterities whereby Hospitality was neglected which was especially required of them Hereupon Sir William Cecyl the Secretary who was now with the King and took notice of these Discourses and saw well the malicious Tendency thereof and moreover thought them perhaps in some measure to be true laboured to hinder the ill Consequence For he was ever a very great Favourer as of the Reformed Clergy so of their Estate and Honours This put him upon writing a private Letter from Court to the Arch-bishop desiring him favourably to take a piece of good Counsel at his Hands as he intended it innocently and out of a good Mind acquainting him with the Reports at the Court of his Riches and of his Covetousness reminding him withal of that Passage of St. Paul They that will be Rich fall into Temptation and a Snare meaning probably thereby the Danger that he and the rest of his Brethren might expose their Revenues to thereby The Arch-bishop seemed somewhat netled and perceiving the ill Designs dispatched an Answer hereunto giving a true Account of his own Condition and of the other Bishops as to temporal Things and letting him understand how much the World was mistaken in him and the rest That for himself he feared not that Saying of St. Paul half so much as he did stark Beggary That he took not half so much Care for his Living when he was a Scholar of Cambridg as he did at that present For although he had now much more Revenue yet he said he had much more to do withal That he had more Care now to live as an Arch-bishop than he had at that Time to live like a Scholar That he had not now so much as he had within ten Years past by an hundred and fifty Pounds of certain Rent besides Casualties That he paid double for every thing he bought And that if a good Auditor had this Account he should find no great Surplusage to grow rich upon And then as for the rest of the Bishops he told him That they were all Beggars but only one single Man of them and yet he dared well say that he was not very Rich. And that if he knew any Bishop that were Covetous he would surely admonish him Intreating the Secretary that if he could inform him of any such he would signify him and himself would advertise him thinking he could do it better than the other Who seemed to have hinted his Mind to the Arch-bishop that he intended to do it This Letter will be found among the rest in the Appendix No doubt the Arch-bishop was thus large and earnest on this Subject to supply the Secretary with Arguments to confute that malicious Talk at Court concerning the Bishops and to prevent the Mischiefs hatching against them Nor indeed was this the first time this Arch-bishop was thus slandered For some of his Enemies divers Years before had charged him to his loving Master King Henry VIII with Covetousness and ill House-keeping And the chief of these that raised this Report was Sir Thomas Seimour But the King made him to convince himself by sending him to Lambeth about Dinner-time upon some pretended Message Where his own Eyes saw how the Arch-bishop lived in far other sort than he had told the King keeping great and noble Hospitality So that when he returned he acknowledged to his Majesty that he never saw so honourable a Hall set in this Realm besides his Majesty's in all his Life with better Order and so well furnished in each Degree And the King then gave this Testimony of him Ah good Man all that he hath he spendeth in House-keeping For this Reason probably it was as well as upon the account of his good Service and also of the Exchanges he was forced to make that the said King gave him a promise of a Grant of some Lands and by a general Clause in his Will signified as much which was That certain Persons should be considered Accordingly I find in the forementioned Manuscript-Book of Sales of King's Lands that Thomas Arch-bishop of Canterbury did in the first Year of King Edward VI. partly by Purchase and partly by Exchange of other Lands procure divers Lands of the King He obtained the Rectory of VVhalley Blackbourn and Rachdale in the County of Lancaster lately belonging to the Monastery or Abby of VVhalley in the same County and divers other Lands and Tenaments in the Counties of Lancaster Kent Surrey London Bangor And this partly in Consideration of King Henry VIII his Promise and in performance of his Will and partly in exchange for the Mannor and Park of Mayfield in the County of Sussex and divers other Lands and Tenements in the Counties of Middlesex Hertford Kent Buckingham and York This Purchase he made I suppose not for himself but for his See About the same time he also bought of the King for the sum of five hundred and eighty Pounds eight Shillings and four Pence the Mannor of Sleford in the County of Lincoln and of Middleton-Cheny in the County of Northampton and divers other Lands and Tenements in the said Counties He made another Purchase of the King the same Year that is the first of his Reign for four hundred twenty nine Pounds fourteen shillings and two Pence and for the fulfilling the last Will of the late King and in consideration of Services as it is expressed in the said Book of Sales This Purchase was the Priory of Arthington in the County of York and divers other Lands and Tenements in York Nottingham and Kent An Extract of which three Purchases exactly taken out of the said Book with the Value of the Lands and the Rent reserved and the Time of the Issues and the Test of the Patent I have thought fit to insert in the Appendix which
Council wrote a Letter to the great Men in those Parts viz. the Lord Russel Lord Windsor to the Justices of the Peace and the rest of the Gentlemen within that County in favour of the said Knox the Preacher A Bishop Consecrated June 26. Iohn Taylor S. Th. P. Dean of Lincoln a Learned and Pious Man was Consecrated Bishop of Lincoln at Croyden-Chappel by the Arch-bishop assisted by Nicolas Bishop of London and Iohn Bishop of Rochester CHAP. XXXIV A Catechism The Arch-bishop opposeth the Exclusion of the Lady Mary WE are now come to the last Year of good K. Edward's Reign when the Arch-bishop was as commonly at the Council as he used to be before For the Counsellors made great use of him and did not use to conclude any thing in matters relating to the Church without him And if he came not they often sent for him and once the last Year in October when he had fixed his Day of going into Kent they staied him for some Days that they might confer with him about some certain Matter I suppose relating to the Articles of Religion that were then under their Hands To look no further than the latter end of the last Year He was at Council at Westminster in February and this Year in March and April And the Court being at Greenwich where the King lay sick and died the Arch-bishop was there at Council in Iune but not after the eighth Day The reason he came no more we may well conjecture to be because he did no ways like the Methods that were now taking by Northumberland to bring the Crown into his own Family and disenherit the King's Sisters For soon after viz. Iune 11. The Lord Chief Justice Mountagne and some other Judges with the King's Attorny and Solicitor were sent for to the Council to consult about drawing up the Instrument On one of these Council-Days he procured the King's Letters in behalf of the Book of Articles which he had taken such Pains about the two last Years both in composing and in bringing to effect The King had before given order to the Arch-bishop by his Letters to put forth these Articles And now they were put forth he procured the King's Letters also to his own Officers for to see the Clergy of his Diocess to subscribe thereunto So the King's Letters were directed to the Official of the Court of Canterbury and the Dean of the Deanery of the Arches and to their Surrogates Deputies c. Setting forth That whereas he had given order unto Thomas Arch-bishop of Canterbury in Letters sealed with his Signet for the Honour of God and to take away Dissension of Opinion and confirm Consent of true Religion that he should expound publish denounce and signify some Articles and other things breathing the right Faith of Christ for the Clergy and People within his Jurisdiction the King therefore enjoined them the Arch-bishop's Officers that they should cause all Rectors Vicars Priests Stipendiaries School-masters and all that had any Ecclesiastical Employment to appear in Person before the Arch-bishop in his Hall at Lambeth there further to obey and do on the King's part according as it shall be signified and to receive according to Reason and the Office owing to the King 's Royal Dignity And in obedience hereunto the Official Iohn Gibbon LL. D. Commissary of the Deanery of the Blessed Virgin of the Arches signified by an Instrument dated Iune 2 to the Arch-bishop that he had cited the Clergy I do not find the success of this only that the City-Clergy made their appearance before the Arch-bishop at Lambeth and that he did his endeavor by Perswasion and Argument to bring them to subscribe Which no question very few refused But this Matter afterwards served Q. Mary's Commissioners for one of their Interrogatories to be put to the Arch-bishop as though he had compelled many against their Wills to subscribe Which he denied saying He compelled none but exhorted such to subscribe as were willing first to do it before they did it In the Month of May the King by his Letters Patents commanded a Latin Catechism to be taught by School-masters to their Scholars It was intitled Catechismus brevis Christianae disciplinae summam continens The King in his Letters dated May 20. said It was made by a certain Pious and Learned Man and presented to him and that he committed the diligent examination of it to certain Bishops and other Learned Men whose Judgment was of great Authority with him The same Bishops and Learned Men I suppose that were framing and preparing the Articles of Religion the last Year The Author of this Catechism is not certainly known Some conjecture him to be Ponet the Bishop of Winchester The Learned Dr. Ward one of the English Divines sent to the Synod of Dort having this Catechism in his Library now in the possession of a Friend of mine wrote therein these words A ro N llo autore siquid ego divinare possum Meaning probably Alexander Nowel who was now if I mistake not School-master of Westminster and afterwards Dean of S. Pauls But whosoever was the Author the Arch-bishop we may conclude to be the furtherer and recommender of it unto the King it being that Prelate's great Design by Catechisms and Articles of Religion and plain Expositions of the Fundamentals to instil right Principles into the Minds of the Youth and common People for the more effectual rooting out Popery that had been so long entertained by the industrious nurselling up the Nation in Ignorance There was a Catechism that came forth about this time whether it were this or another I cannot say allowed by the Synod or Convocation In the beginning of Q. Mary the Popish Divines made a great stir about this Catechism and thought they had a great Advantage against it because it was put forth as from the Synod whereas that Synod knew nothing of it Whereupon Wesâ—on the Prolocutor in Q. Mary's first Convocation brought a Bill into the House declaring that Catechism being Pestiferous and full of Heresies to be foisted upon the last Synod fraudulently and therefore that the present Synod disowned it To which he set his own hand and propounded that all the House should do the like Which all but six consented to One whereof was Philpot Arch-deacon of Winchester who stood up and told them in justification of those that published the said Catechism that the Synod under K. Edward had granted to certain Persons to be appointed by the King to make Ecclesiastical Laws And whatsoever Ecclesiastical Laws they or the most part of them did set forth according to a Statute in that behalf provided might well be said to be done by the Synod of London although such as were of the House then had no notice thereof before the Promulgation And therefore in this Point he thought the setters forth of the Catechism had nothing slandered the House since they had that
Not was inserted in a certain place of the Book to alter the Doctrine of the Real Presence which was asserted in the first Edition This Dr. Martin one of Queen Mary's Commissioners threw in his Dish at his Examination in Oxford But the Arch-bishop professed his Ignorance concerning the foisting in of that Word The addition of which Word indeed he thought was needless still holding the Body and Blood truly present in the Holy Supper though after a spiritual manner III. The Ordinances or Appointments of the Reformed Church This was the Book of Common-Prayer with the Preface before it beginning There was never any thing c. as I learn out of Bale IV. One Book of Ordaining Ministers Which I suppose was the Form of Ordination published in the Year 1550. V. One Book concerning the Eucharist with Luther With whom Cranmer once consented in the Doctrine of the Presence VI. A Defence of the Catholick Doctrine in five Books Which was his excellent Work in vindication of himself against Bishop Gardiner and Dr. Richard Smith Whereof much hath been said before VII Ecclesiastical Laws in the Time of King Edward This was the Book of the Reformation of the Ecclesiastical Laws the management of which was by the King's Letters committed to eight whereof Cranmer was the chief VIII The Doctrine of the Lord's Supper against Gardiner's Sermon This Sermon is the same I suppose with that Book of his intituled A Detection of the Devil's Sophistry wherewith he robbeth the unlearned People of the true Belief of the most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar Which gave occasion to the Arch-bishop's first writing upon this Argument IX One Book against the Error of Transubstantiation X. One Book How Christ is present in the Supper XI One Book Concerning eating the Lord's Supper XII One Book Concerning the offering up of Christ. These five Books last mentioned are nothing else but the five Parts of his Book of the Holy Sacrament mentioned before XIII One Book of Christian Homilies Which must be the first Part of our Book of Homilies published under King Edward XIV One Book in answer to the Calumnies of Richard Smith For this Man had writ against Cranmer's Book of the Sacrament as well as Gardiner but done so scurrilously that Cranmer calls it his Calumnies XV. Confutations of Unwritten Verities Written against a Book of the same Smith intituled De veritatibus non scriptis Which he afterward recanted XVI Twelve Books of Common-Places taken out of the Doctors Those Volumes mentioned by Bishop Burnet I suppose were some of these Common-Place Books XVII Concerning not marrying the Brother's Wife Two Books Which must be those drawn up for the Use and by the Command of King Henry XVIII Against the Pope's Supremacy Two Books This was the Declaration against the Papal Supremacy said to be put forth by the Bishops in the Year 1536 upon occasion of Pole's Book of Ecclesiastical Vnion XIX Against the Pope's Purgatory Two Books XX. Concerning Justification Two Books I cannot trace these two last-mentioned Books unless by them be meant those two Treatises of Justification and Purgatory that are set at the end of the Institution XXI Pious Prayers One Book This Book I suppose was the Orarium seu libellus precationum put forth by the King and Clergy 1545. From whence a Book of Prayers was translated into English Anno 1552. XXII Letters to Learned Men One Book This I cannot hear any tidings of XXIII Against the Sacrifice of the Mass and against the Adoration of the Bread One Book Said to be writ while he was a Prisoner Which makes me conclude it to be part of his Reply to Gardiner's second Assault of him under the Name of Constantius XXIV To Queen Mary One Book or rather one Letter which was that he writ after his Examinations before her Commissioners and the Pope's Sub-delegate If some body of Leisure and that had the Opportunity of Libraries would take the pains to collect together all these Books and other Writings of this Arch-bishop and publish them it would be a worthy Work as both retrieving the Memory of this extraordinary Man who deserved so well of this Church and serving also much to illustrate the History of its Reformation But I know nothing of this nature done since the industrious Iohn Day in the Year 1580 printed a Book in Folio containing our Arch-bishop's Answer unto Stephen Gardiner Bishop of Winchester against the true Doctrine of the Sacrament Also to Richard Smith Also a true Copy of the Book writ by Stephen Gardiner Also The Life and Martyrdom of Cranmer extracted out of the Book of Martyrs And now we are mentioning this great Prelat's Writings it may not be unworthy to take notice of what I meet with in a Letter of Arch-bishop Parker to Secretary Cecyl in the Year 1563 his Grace being then at Canterbury Where he spake of the Great notable written Books as he stiles them of his Predecessor Dr. Cranmer which he had left behind him at some of his Houses at or near Canterbury whether Ford or Bekesborn or both or with some Friends in those Parts These Manuscripts it seems were embezeled and surreptitiously taken away by private Hands probably during his restraint in Queen Mary's Days and now studiously concealed by some that were minded it may be to stifle them being chiefly levelled against the Roman Church and Bishop Parker who was a great and painful Searcher after Antient and Learned Manuscripts and a diligent Retriever of eminent Mens Writings had by credible Information learn'd in what Hands many of those Books were and had sent either for the Persons concerned or to them to demand the said Books But they denied them Whereupon knowing no other way to recover them he desired the Secretary by some Power from the Queen's Council to authorize him to enquire and search for those Books and such-like Monuments by all Ways as by the said Parker's Discretion should be thought good whether giving the Parties an Oath or viewing their Studies Wishing he might recover them to be afterwards at the Queen's Commandment Adding that he should be as glad to win them as he would be to restore an old Chancel to Reparation This Letter of Arch-bishop Parker I have inserted in the Appendix But whether after all his diligence he succeeded in the recovery of those Manuscripts I know not I am apt to think he did and that these Writings of Cranmer that were in his Possession and afterwards bequeathed unto the Library of Benet-College and those other divers Volumes which were as was before-said in the keeping of the Lord Burghley might be some at least of them An inquisitive Man would be glad to know what the Matter and Contents of these numerous Writings of our Arch-bishop were and that seeing so many of them are perished the knowledg of the various Subjects of them at least might be preserved This besides what hath been shewn already may be gathered by what
Aless turned into Latin and published for the Consolation of the Churches every where in those sad Times as it ran in the Title If any desire to look backward unto the more early Times of this Man the first Tidings we have of him was about the Year 1534. When upon a sharp Persecution raised in Scotland he with other Learned Men fled thence into England and was received into Crumwel's Family And it is said that he became known to and grew into such Favour with King Henry that he called him his Scholar But after Crumwel's Death in the Year 1540 he taking one Fife with him went into Saxony where both of them were for their great Learning made Professors in the University of Leipzig In the Year 1557. I find this Man at Leipzig where he was Professor of Divinity as was said before Hither this Year Melancthon sent to him from Wormes giving him some Account of the Preparations that were making by the Roman Catholick Party in order to a Conference with the Protestants At which the said Aless was to be present and make one of the Disputants on the Protestant side And ten Years before this viz. 1547 he was the Publick Moderator of Divinity both in the Schools and Pulpits of Leipzig or some other University Besides this Aless there were four other pious and learned Persons Foreigners who bringing along with them Letters of Recommendation from the said Melancthon were courteously received and freely entertained by our hospitable Arch-bishop all of them in the Year 1548 at which time the Persecution grew hot upon the Interim One of these was Gualter another Scot by Nation A second was one named Francis Dryander an Acquaintance of Melancthon's of long continuance Whom as he told the Arch-bishop he had tried and known inwardly and found him endowed with excellent Parts well furnished with Learning that he judged rightly of the Controversies altogether free from all wild and seditious Opinions and that he would soon perceive the singular gravity of his Manners after some few Days knowledg of him motioning withal to the Arch-bishop his fitness to be preferred in either of our Universities As he did also to K. Edward in Letters brought at this time to him by the said Dryander Wherein he recommended him to that King as one that would prove a very useful Person either in his Universities or elsewhere in his Kingdom This Recommendation had so much Force that this Man seemed soon after to be sent and placed at Oxon and there remained till in the beginning of Queen Mary's Reign when all Strangers were commanded to depart the Realm he went hence to Paris and from thence to Antwerp Whence he wrote a Letter to one Crispin a Doctor of Physick in Oxon therein relating to him a Passage concerning the coarse Entertainment which the Divines of Lovain gave Gardiner Bishop of Winchester upon the Scandal they took against him for his Book De vera Obedientia Which Letter is extant in Fox The third was Eusebius Menius the Son of Iustus Menius Which Iustus was a Person of great Fame and Esteem both for his Learning in Philosophy and Divinity and for the Government of the Churches within the Territories of Iohn Frederick Duke of Saxony Of this Eusebius his Son Melancthon writ to our Arch-bishop That he had good Preferments in Germany but he could not bear to behold the Calamities of his poor Country which made him seek for a Being in Foreign Parts He recommended him to his Grace desiring him to cherish him Adding That in the Gothick Times what remained of the Church and of right Doctrines were preserved in our Island and that Europe being now in a Combustion it were to be wish'd that some peaceable Harbour might be for Learning He doubted not but that many flocked hither but that it was the part of Piety and Goodness especially to help the Youth of Excellent Men and the Sons of such as had well deserved of the Church especially when they themselves also were eminent for their Parts and Learning And since this Eusebius was a good Mathematician and had read Mathematicks in one of their Schools he propounded him to the Arch-bishop to be a fit Person for the Profession of that Science in our University The fourth was Iustus Ionas the Son also of a great German Divine of the same Name and who was one of the Four that in the Year 1530 came to Augsburgh upon a Diet appointed by the Emperor for Religion with the Elector of Saxony Melancthon Agricola and Georgius Spalatinus being the other Three The Son came over with Letters commendatory from Melancthon as the others did He commended his excellent Parts and his Progress in all kind of Philosophy and good Manners and especially his Eloquence which he said he had a Nature divinely framed to To which it may not be amiss to subjoin what Melancthon somewhere else did observe of his Family Namely That his Grandfather was a Person of Fame for Oratory and Civil Prudence His Father endowed with such Parts as naturally made him an Orator in respect of his fluency of Words and gracefulness of Delivery And this Felicity of Nature he improved by a great accession of Learning Which made him tell our Iustus that he was born in Oratoria Familia And such care did he take of him when he was young that he took the pains to write him a long Letter containing Instructions for his Improvement in the Grounds of Learning This Man the Arch-bishop was very kind to gave him Harbour and admitted him freely into his Society and Converse Insomuch that Iustus Ionas the Father entreated Melancthon That he would take particular notice to the Arch-bishop of his great Favour shewed to his Son Among the Discourses the communicative Prelat held with Ionas while he was with him one happened concerning a noted Question in Divinity Where launching out into free communication with him upon that Point he desired him to impart to Melancthon the Substance of what he had discoursed and that he should signify to him that the Arch-bishop requested his Judgment thereof Which accordingly Ionas did And Melancthon in a Letter to the Arch-bishop stiles it non obscarae Quaestio and that it had already much shaken the Church and says he Concutiet durius shall shake it yet more Giving his Reason for this Conjecture Because those Governours meaning I suppose the Papal Clergy did not seek for a true Remedy to so great a Matter It doth not appear to me what this Question was that the Arch-bishop was so earnest to confer with this great Divine about whether it were concerning the necessity of Episcopal Government and Ordination or concerning the Use of Ceremonies in the Church or about the Doctrine of the Sacrament this last I am apt to believe But either of them hath according to Melancthon's Prediction sufficiently shaken the Churches of Christ. But to
Commentaries which he then was busy about and as it seems encouraged by Cranmer to take in Hand and prosecute And when Dr. Bruno a Learned Man and Father-in-Law to Sleidan departed out of England which was about the Time before mentioned being the Agent of the Duke of Saxony the Arch-bishop informed him of this Stipend by the King granted unto his Son-in-Law confirming the same to him in the King's Name and encouraging the Commentator hereby to proceed cheerfully in his useful Undertaking But upon the Stirs at Court the paiment of this Pension was neglected a great while Which caused Sleidan to call upon the Arch-bishop more than once as also upon his Friends Cheke and Cecyl entreating them to remind the Arch-bishop of him and to communicate to his Lordship the Letters he had writ to them But alas he needed not to have been excited to things of this Nature bearing so good a Will to them and being of his own Nature so forward to favour Learned and honest Men and useful Designs Nor was his good Will to Sleidan any whit abated but his Interest at Court was now towards the declension of King Edward's Reign But because his Pension depended only upon a verbal Promise of the King and the getting it under his Seal might contribute to the paiment of it in better sort hereafter he laboured with our Prelate and the two other Persons mentioned that it might be confirmed by Letters Patents He urged to them That he could have employed himself in other Business that would have redounded more to his Profit as many others did But he reckoned himself called to this Work from Heaven and that he could take no rest in his Mind till he had brought the History down to that present Time it being then the Year 1553 That he had hope that they according to their Humanity and Prudence who well understood things would take some Pains that the Arrears of his promised Stipend might be paid and that some further Care might be taken for the due Paiment of it hereafter that so he might the more conveniently and freely follow that Matter Leaving it to them to consider how much that Labour cost him as to the Charges he means of Correspondence for the getting particular and faithful Accounts of things that past in all Parts And lastly That it belonged properly to Kings to cherish such Labours as would be Ornaments to Religion and Learning and of Use to the Common-Good And in another Address to Secretary Cecyl he desired That he would plead in his behalf with the most Reverend the Arch-bishop adding That he did wholly give up himself to this Work and was in a diligent pursuit of all Matters in order to the compiling a compleat History Though I have said so much already of Sleidan yet I will take this occasion to add somewhat more that I may retrieve as much as I can of this honest Man and excellent Writer In the Month of September Anno 1552 he sent to the King together with a Letter his Commentaries of the German Wars brought down to that very Time being a short Draught of that he intended afterwards more largely and fully to write And Cheke and Cecyl were the Men that presented them to his Majesty With this kind of Writing the King declared himself much pleased as Cecyl wrote him back and so he and Cheke also were This Encouragement put our Author upon another Design resolving to write the whole Actions of the Council of Trent wherein he himself had been a part having been Agent there for five Months from the City of Strasburg This he intended to do for the King 's own Sake That he might thorowly understand the Form of Councils and might then make his Judgment of the rest of the History of the Reformation of Religion which he was then writing The Spring after he presented the King with a Specimen of his Writing concerning the Council of Trent It was the beginning and entrance into that Treatise he intended to write of that Subject This he desired might be kept in the King's Study and communicated to no other Hand and that no Copy of it might be taken it being but a small part of a future Work and so imperfect He had now in the Ides of March compleated his Commentaries from the Year 1517 to the Year 1536 and was resolved by God's Grace to go on with it in the same Method In order to which in the Month of December before he had desired of Cecyl that he would procure him the whole Action between King Henry VIII and Pope Clement VII when that King vindicated his own Liberty and that of his Kingdom from Papal Pretences of Supremacy over each This Matter between the King and the Pope he called Locus illustris memorabilis and judged it very worthy for Posterity to know Adding that though he had in his own Hands some Matters relating thereto yet they were not so exact and certain as he could wish because he desired to describe every thing properly and most exactly according to Truth He entreated also that if either he or Cheke had any other Matters of that Nature to impart they would oblige him with them Which Passages make me conclude that in relation to the English Affairs he made great use of Intelligences from Cecyl and Cheke and probably our Arch-bishop too Which consideration may add a great Reputation unto the Credit of his Book Now to preserve as much as we can of this excellent Historian Iohn Sleidan I have thought good to insert divers of his Letters in the Appendix and likewise because mention is often therein made of our Arch-bishop To which I have subjoined a Letter of Martin Bucer a great Name wrote to Cecyl in behalf of the said Sleidan For he did not only importune those Courtiers before mentioned but when no Answer came from them he made Bucer also his Solicitor from Cambridg Who Anno 1551 Feb. 18. wrote to Cecyl to further Sleidan's Business and to dispatch the Paiment of his Stipend and that Sleidan might be resolved one way or other giving Cecyl this Memento That this would well become the Administration of a Kingdom so much adorned as with other things so with the Benefit of Religion By the way the Date of this Letter would deserve well to be noted serving to judg of the true Date of Bucer's Death Which by Historians is variously set down if we may believe Fuller in his History of the University of Cambridg It is certain Bucer was ill when he wrote that Letter to Cecyl for he mentions therein an Epistle which he sent to Dr. Iohn Quercetanus the Physician upon the said Cecyl's Desire the which he said he was hardly able to dictate This Letter to Cecyl I take to be writ in his last Sickness nine Days before the Date which Sleidan his Friend assigned for the Day of his Death To
Farm of that Parsonage and the Nomination of the Curat And being a Man of Conscience and Integrity endeavoured to procure here an honest and able Preacher and so presented to the Church one Richard Turner a Man of an irreprehensible Life and well-learned in the Holy Scriptures Who for his Doctrine against the Popish Superstition and the Pope's Supremacy met with great Troubles But his Patron very stifly stood by him and procured the Arch-bishop to favour him And having an Interest with Sir Anthony Denny and Sir William Butts Courtiers he wrote Mr. Turner's Case at large to them and got them to read his Letter before the King Who though before he had been by sinister Reports so incensed against him as to command him to be whip'd out of the Country now by this Means he conceived better Thoughts of him and commanded him to be cherish'd as a good Subject as I have before more at large related Another Passage I meet with of this Man relates to the Kindness of the ABp his Master to him Who in token of his Good-will he bore him and of his readiness to reward his Diligence and Faithfulness in his Service did procure him a Lease of the Parsonage of Ospring in Kent being an Impropriation belonging unto S. Iohns-College in Cambridg worth better than forty Marks by the Year de claro when Wheat was but a Noble the Quarter This the Arch-bishop got a Grant of from the said College for him But when the Lease was prepared and ready to be sealed one Hawkins of the Guard by his importunate Suit got King Henry VIII to obtain it of the College to be sealed for the use of him the said Hawkins The Arch-bishop then solicited the King in his Servant's behalf and the King promised him and also Dr. Day the Master of the College that he would otherwise recompense Morice for the same with like Value or better Which was never done the King dying before he did any thing for him This caused Morice to prefer a Supplication unto Queen Elizabeth setting forth his said Case and desiring therefore her Liberality Aid and Succour especially considering that her Royal Father had in his Will provided that all such who had sustained any manner of Damage or Hinderance by him should be satisfied for the same Suing therefore to her Majesty for a Pension that had been allowed unto one Wilbore late Prior of the Monastery of S. Augustines lately deceased that it might be conferred upon him during his Life And indeed he seemed now in his old Age to have need of some such Favour his Condition being but mean according to worldly Things and having four Daughters all marriageable and not where-withal to bestow them according to their Quality This his Poverty he urged to the Queen and that the granting him this Pension would be a good furtherance of his said Daughters Marriage The same Person had some Lands descended to him from Iames his Father out of two Manors the one called Royden-Manor and the other called The Temple both situate and lying in the Parish of Royden His said Father upon some certain Reasons and Agreements surrendred two long Leases of both these Manors into King Henry VIII his Hands In consideration of which and of long and true Services the said King did give except and reserve certain Tenements Lands Pastures and Meadows out of the said two Lordships to the Use of the said Iames and his Heirs and Assigns for ever as appeared by his Letters Patents And Iames did enjoy them peaceably and quietly without any molestation until his Death which was in the second Year of Queen Mary But of late the Leases of the Manors being sold away unto others they laid Claim and Titlâ— unto the said reserved Lands upon the Information of one Thurgood Steward of the Courts there pretending that there were not Words sufficient in the said Letters Patents to justify the said Exceptions This occasioned Ralph Morice the Son who enjoyed some of the Copy-holds within the said Exceptions to sue unto the Queen for her Majesty's Letters Patents to ratify and confirm the said Exceptions that the King 's Godly Disposition Intent and Meaning might be in Force to Iames Morice's Heirs and Assigns for ever What Success he had in this and the former Petition I find not but am ready to think the Queen gratified him in both as well for his own Merits as out of that high Respect she bore to the Memory of our incomparable Prelat whose Servant he had so long been and for whose sake he recommended himself and his Suit to her I have inserted the former of these Supplications in the Appendix being an Original of Morice's own Hand-writing and containing some memorable Passages in it This Man was by the Arch-bishop's Means appointed Register in King Edward VI his Visitation which was in the second Year of his Reign the Articles whereof were drawn up by the Arch-bishop and preserved to us in Bishop Sparrow's Collections And being ready to depart with the King's Commissioners the Arch-bishop sent for him to Hampton-Court and willed him to make Notes of certain Matters in the said Visitation whereof he gave him particular Instructions and had large Discourse with him of the good Success that this Course was like to have In the beginning of Queen Mary he suffered much Being glad to fly from his own House but afterwards taken by the Justices and committed to Custody Out of which he escaped by breaking Prison His House was often searched But he out-lived those hard Times and was alive in the Year 1565 and then lived at Bekesborn It was this Morice that supplied Mr. Fox the Writer of the Acts and Monuments with those Memorials concerning the Bishop of Winchester which shewed how small a Share he had in King Henry's Affections notwithstanding his boasting thereof which he was very apt to do and particularly how that King came to leave him out of his last Will. All which Sir Anthony Denny related to our Arch-bishop in the hearing of this his Secretary Who was alive when Fox wrote this and whom he asserts towards the end of his eighth Book as a Witness to the same For it is to be noted here that among those Persons that assisted this Author with Matter for the compiling his laborious Books this Morice was one and to whom we are to reckon our selves beholden for divers other material Passages of our Church-History and especially those of his Lord and Master the Arch-bishop which are preserved in the said Books to Posterity To Day the Printer he sent many Papers of Monuments for the furnishing Fox's History and many more he had communicated but that in Queen Mary's Reign his House in two Years was thrice searched by which means he lost a great sort of Things worthy perpetual Memory and especially divers Letters of King Edward to the Arch-bishop and of the Arch-bishop to him
Duke of Somerset's Brother being one of the Privy-Chamber was procured to take this Matter in hand And before he informed the King thereof he blasted it abroad in the Court Insomuch that the Gentlemen and he fell out for the same They declare That his Report was manifestly false as well for the keeping of his House as for the purchasing Lands for his Wife and Children This notwithstanding Mr. Seymor went through with his Information and declared unto the King as is before declared The King hearing this Tale with the Sequel that was That it was meet for the Bishops not to be troubled ne vexed with Temporal Affairs in ruling their Honours Lordships and Manors but rather they having an honest Pension of Money yearly allowed unto them for their Hospitality should surrender unto the King's Majesty all their Royalties and Temporalties said I do marvel that it is said my Lord of Canterbury should keep no good Hospitality for I have heard the contrary And so with a few more Commendations of my Lord as one that little regarded the Suit but yet as it appeared afterward something smelling what they went about left off any further to talk of that Matter and converted his Communication to another Purpose Notwithstanding within a Month after whether it was of Chance or of Purpose it is unknown the King going to Dinner called Mr. Seymour unto him and said Go ye straightways unto Lambeth and bid my Lord of Canterbury come and speak with me at two of the Clock at Afternoon Incontinently Mr. Seymor came to Lambeth and being brought into the Hall by the Porter it chanced the Hall was set to Dinner And when he was at the Skreen and perceived the Hall furnished with three principal Messes beside the rest of the Tables thorowly set having a guilty Conscience of his untrue Report made to the King recoâ—led back and would have gone in to my Lord by the Chappel-way Mr. Nevyl being Steward perceiving that rose up and went after him and declared unto him that he could not go that way and so brought him back unto my Lord through the Hall And when he came to my Lord and had done his Message my Lord caused him to sit down and dine with him But making a short Dinner because he would bring the King word again of his Message he departed and came to the King before he was risen from the Table When he came to the King's Presence said the King Will my Lord of Canterbury come to Us He will wait on your Majesty said Mr. Seymor at two of the Clock Then said the King had my Lord dined before you came No forsooth said Mr. Seymor for I found him at Dinner Well said the King What Chear made he you With these words Mr. Seymor kneeled down and besought the King's Majesty of Pardon What is the matter said the King I do remember said Mr. Seymor that I told your Highness that my Lord of Canterbury kept no Hospitality correspondent unto his Dignity and now I perceive that I did abuse your Highness with an Untruth For besides your Grace's House I think he be not in the Realm of none Estate or Degree that hath such a Hall furnished or that fareth more honourably at his own Table Ah said the King have you spied your own Fault now I assure your Highness said Mr. Seymor it is not so much my Fault as other Mens who seemed to be honest Men that enformed me hereof But I shall henceforth the worse trust them while they live Then said the King I knew your Purpose well enough you have had among you the Commodities of the Abbies which you have consumed Some with superfluous Apparel some at Dice and Cards and other ungracious Rule And now you would have the Bishops Lands and Revenues to abuse likewise If my Lord of Canterbury keep such a Hall as you say being neither Term nor Parliament he is merely well visited at those Times I warrant you And if the other Bishops kept the like for their Degree they had not need to have any thing taken from them but rather to be added and holpen And therefore set your Hearts at rest there shall no such Alteration be made while I live said the King So that in very deed where some had penned certain Books for the altering that State in the next Parliament they durst never bring them forth to be read Whereupon it also came to pass that when the King understood that contrary unto the Report my Lord of Canterbury had purchased no Lands his Highness was content upon the only Motion of Dr. Butts without my Lord Cranmer's Knowledg That he should have the Abbey in Nottinghamshire which his Wife now enjoyeth Thus much I have declared concerning Mr. Seymor's Practice to the intent Men may understand that my Lord Cranmer's Hospitality was a mean to stay the Estate of the Clergy in their Possessions CHAP. XXXI Arch-bishop Cranmer preserved the Revenues of his See AND here I must answer for my Lord Cranmer against certain Objections which are in divers Mens Heads That by his Means all the Preferments Offices and Farmes are so given and let out that his Successors have nothing to give or bestow upon their Friends and Servants nor that such Hospitality can be kept by reason of his Fault in letting go such things as should have maintained Provisions of Household But to answer this in a few words before I descend to any particular Declaration It is most true that if he had not well behaved himself towards his Prince and the World his Successors should not been cumbred with any piece of Temporal Revenues either Lands Woods or other Revenues And I pray God they may maintain in this mild and quiet Time that which he in a most dangerous World did uphold and left to his Successors Yet for better declaration in answering to those Objections it is to be considered that when he entred upon his Dignity every Man about the King made means to get some Reversion of Farmes or of other Office of him In so much that the King himself made means to him for one or two things before he was Consecrated as for the Farm of Wingham-Barton Which was granted unto Sir Edward Bainton Kt. for fourscore and nineteen Years When my Lord perceived that in such Suits as he granted to the King and Queen Men would needs have an hundred Years save one he wrote to the Chapter of Christ-Church and willed them in any Condition not to confirm any more of his Grants of Leases which were above one and twenty Years By this means much Suit was stopped So that in very deed he gave out his Leases but for one and twenty Years Which would not satisfy the greedy Appetites of some Men And therefore they found a Provision for it For when my Lord had let out certain goodly Farmes at Pinner Heyes Harrow on the Hill Mortlake c. to the number of ten or
a firm Purpose to conform himself thereunto and so continue to proceed from time to time shewing himself a sober and fruitful Hearer and Learner This whole Preface for the Antiquity and Usefulness of it and to preserve as much as we can of the Writings of this most Reverend Man I have transcribed and placed in the Appendix The Edition in the Year 1540 had a remarkable Frontispiece before it Which because it is somewhat rare both in regard of the Antiquity and Device of it I will relate In the upper â—art thereof you see King Henry VIII sitting in State guarded on each hand of him with the Lords Spiritual and Temporal holding in his right Hand a Bible closed which he delivered unto Arch-bishop Cranmer being on his Knee in the Name of the rest of the Bishops all which stood at his right Hand bare-headed their Mitres lying up-the Ground in token of their Acknowledgment of the King's Supremacy and this Motto issuing out of the King's Mouth Haec praecipe doce Holding also in his left Hand another Bible stretched towards the Lords Temporal and delivered to one whom I suppose to be intended for the Lord Crumwel at the head of them standing on the left Side and this Word coming out of the King's Mouth towards them Quod justum est judicate and this Ita parvum audietis ut magnum and this A me constitutum est decretum ut in Vniverso Imperio Regno meo homines revereantur paveant Deum Viventem Among these Nobles is the Figure of one on his Knees and these Words issuing out of his Mouth Verbum tuum Lucerna pedibus meis Over the King's Head is the Figure of God Almighty sitting in the Clouds with these Words coming out of his Mouth in a Scrole towards the right Hand Verbum quod egredietur de me non revertetur ad me vacuum sed faciet quaecunque volui And in another Scrole towards the Left with his Hand pointing to the King Ecce servum qui faciet omnes voluntates meas Underneath the Bishops there is another Figure representing Arch-bishop Cranmer his Coat of Arms by him with the distinction of a Crescent He stood with his Mitre on his Head and dress'd in his Pontificalibus his Chaplain behind him and a Priest with a Tonsure kneeling before him in the posture of a Candidate for Priests Orders and having his Hand stretched out to receive the Bible offered him by the Arch-bishop and out of his Mouth this Scrole Pascite qui in vobis est gregem Christi On the other Side opposite to the Arch-bishop and underneath the Lords Temporal stood another Person whom I conjecture to be the Lord Crumwel with his Shield by him blank without any bearing and out of his Mouth came Diverte a malo sequere pacem persequere In the lowest part of this Fronticepiece you have the resemblance of a Priest preaching out of a Pulpit before a great Auditory of Persons of all Ranks Qualities Orders Sexes Ages Men Women Children Nobles Priests Souldiers Tradesmen Countrymen Out of the Mouth of the Preacher went this Verse Obsecro igitur primum omnium fieri obsecrationes orationes postulationes gratiarum actiones pro omnibus hominibus pro regibus c. Implying the Benefit accruing to Princes by the Peoples Knowledg of the Scriptures namely That it taught them to obey and pray for them And out of the Mouths of these Hearers of all sorts issued Vivat Rex Vivat Rex and out of the Mouths of the Children God save the King denoting the great Joy the People conceived for the enjoyment of God's Word and the preaching thereof and their Thankfulness to the King for his Permission of the same In the middle stood the Title of the Bible which was this The Bible in English that is to say The Contents of all the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament with a Prologue thereunto made by the Reverend Father in God Thomas Arch-bishop of Canterbury This is the Bible appointed to the Use of the Churches Printed by Richard Grafton Cum Privilegio ad imprimendum solum An. Dom. MDXL. CHAP. XXXIV Arch-bishop Cranmer compassionate towards Sufferers for Religion AS he had a great Love and Value for the eminent Professors and Patrons of the Gospel so he bare a most compassionate Spirit towards those that suffered for the sake of it It made a very greaâ— Impression upon him when he heard that Sir Iohn Cheke had been taken up and Indicted soon after Queen Mary's access to the Crown namely in the Month of August which was the next Month after And not knowing wherefore he was Indicted whether for his meddling in the Lady Iane's Business or for his Zeal in promoting Religion he earnestly desired Sir William Cecyl to inform him whether If for the former Considering as he said he had been none of the chief Doers in that Matter he hoped he should have been one of them that should have partaken of the Queen's Favour But if it were for the latter viz. his earnestness in Religion if he suffer for that said he Blessed is he of God that suffereth for his sake howsoever the World judg of him For what ought we to care for the Iudgment of the World when God absolves us But wishing most passionately withal That some means might be used for the Relief of him and the Lord Russel who it seems was clap'd up for the same Cause And indeed as our Arch-bishop was in the time of King Edward he was the same under King Henry that is the common Patron as far as he might or dared of such Priests who were drawn into Trouble for professing or preaching that Gospel So he shewed himself to Turner before-mentioned And in the Year 1533 or 1534 I find him in a Commission for the relieving of another that had been most straitly and rigorously handled by Stokesly then Bishop of London and his Chancellor His Name was Thomas Patmore Parson of Hadham in Hertfordshire a Learned and Godly Man who had by them been condemned to Imprisonment for Life together with the loss of his Benefice and Goods because he had perswaded his Curat to marry a Wife and being privy to his Marriage did nevertheless suffer him to officiate in his Church And because he had preached certain Doctrines at Cambridg as laying little stress upon the Pope's Curse and that we are saved only by God's Mercy and that all that are saved are saved by Faith and that it is against God's Law to burn Hereticks This poor Man after three Years close Imprisonment in Lollards-Tower by the Means of his Friends who put up frequent Petitions to the King and the Lady Ann Bolen was at last released and obtained of the King a Commission to our Arch-bishop to whom were joined Audley Lord Chancellor and Crumwel Secretary of State to enquire into his Injuries and unjust handling and to determine
the said Act. There was indeed an Act made which seemed contrary to this Act namely That which in the Year 1536 put by the Succession of Q. Ann and carried it to the King's Children by another Queen and to this Act the Subjects were to swear also And we will suppose that the ABp swore with the rest to this Act. Neither was there any Perjury here for this Oath in truth was not contrary to the former For by reason of some lawful Impediment of Queen Ann's Marriage with the King as was then pretended it was declared by the Parliament That the Issue of that Queen was Illegitimate and not Inheritable And the first Oath was only for the Succession of lawful Issue by Queen Ann. Therefore there being no lawful Issue of that Queen as was then at least supposed the Oath to the lawful Issue of another Queen might certainly be very innocently taken without infringing the breach of the former And where at length is this Notorious Perjury and swearing and forswearing at every turn Allen again lets fly upon him calling him Apostata But surely it is not Apostacy to leave Error Superstition and Idolatry for the true Doctrine and Profession of the Gospel He chargeth him also with often Relapsing and Recanting He made no Relapses nor Recantations at all as I know of unless a little before his Death when he subscribed to a parcel of Popish Articles by the Importunity of Papists working upon his Frailty and long-Sufferings But he soon revoked all again and died most patiently in the Profession of the true Religion And to this at last comes all this mighty Clamour That he was notoriously Perjured an often relapsed Apostata recanting swearing and forswearing at every Turn Saunders his scurrilous and false Accounts of Cranmer are numberless I will only mention one or two He saith That from Cambridg he went to the Service of Sir Tho. Bullen and by his Preferment was made Arch-bishop of Canterbury Whereas from Cambridg he was immediatly made the King's Chaplain and wanted not the Recommendation of any to his Preferment the King being so well acquainted with his Merits And though he abode sometime with the Earl of Wiltshire whom he stileth Sir Tho. Bullen yet it was not in the quality of his Chaplain but of one whom the King recommended to him He writeth That the Arch-bishop carried his Wife about him in a Chest when he removed and addeth a ridiculous Story relating thereunto And his Brother Parsons saith This was a most certain Story and testified at that Day by Cranmer 's Son's Widow to divers Gentlemen her Friends from whom Parsons saith he had it Other Popish Dignitaries in those Days kept and conversed with their Concubines and Whores more publickly and did the Arch-bishop keep his Wife so close But in case he had travelled with her more openly who should examine the Arch-bishop and call him to Account whether she were his Wife or his Concubine and therefore the Story is most improbable The King himself knew he had a Wife well enough And when the Arch-bishop saw the Danger of having her with him he sent her away to her Friends beyond-Sea for a Time And that silly Story comes through too many Hands before it came to Parsons to make it credible Cranmer's Son tells it to his Wife No Body knows where She being a Widow tells it to certain Gentlemen No Body knows who And they tell it to Parsons no Body knows when No one Place Person or Time mentioned And so all the Faith of the Matter lies upon a Woman's Evidence and hers upon the Credit of those two very honest Men Parsons and Saunders In Parsons his three Conversions of England are these many favourable Expressions of our Arch-bishop to be found That he was the first Heretick in that Order of Arch-bishops of Canterbury Because he was the first that laboured a Reformation of the horrible Errors of the degenerate Church of Rome And that he was the first Arch-bishop of Canterbury that ever brake from the Roman Faith And that this was the first Change of Religion in any Arch bishop from the beginning unto his Days Designing thereby to fix a very black Mark upon him which rather redounds to his everlasting Honour That he was an unconstant Man in his Faith and Belief Incontinent in his Life Variable in all his Actions Accommodating himself always to the Times wherein he lived and to the Humours of those who could do most and this in Matters even against Right and Conscience No but quite contrary he was constant in his Faith and Belief to the very last except one Fall which he soon recovered Most chaste in his Life living in the holy State of Marriage Steady in all his Actions accommodating himself always neither to the Times nor to the Humours of any Man let him be as great as he would any farther than he might do in Righâ— and Conscience And often opposing King Parliament Privy-Council and Synods to his utmost Danger in defence of Truth and for the disâ—harge of his own Conscience Again That he was a Roman Catholick in most Points during K. Henry 's Reign Whereas he was so in no Point excepting in that of the Corporeal Presence That he applied himself to the Religion which the State and Prince liked best to allow of in that Time of K. Henry VIII From which he was so far that he often boldly and publickly declared against divers Things which the King was bent upon as in the Act of the Six Articles and in composing the Book called The Necessary Erudition That these three the King Queen Ann and Arch-bishop Cranmer held the Catholick Faith Vsages and Rites and went as devoutly to Mass as ever and so remained they in outward shew even to their Deaths Though some Years before Cranmer's Death namely from the first Year of King Edward the Mass was wholly laid aside and never used at all That Cranmer and Crumwel went to Mass after the King married the Lady Ann Bolen as before What they did as to the going to Mass our Histories tell us little of If they did it was with little Approbation of it And as Crumwel on the Scaffold protested that he was a good Catholick Man but there is difference between a Good Catholick and a Roman Catholick and never doubted of any of the Church-Sacraments then used Thereby intending I suppose to make a Difference between them and the Gospel-Sacraments But surely Crumwel in his Life-time was so utterly against four or five of them that he brought Aless a Learned Man into a Convocation to dispute there for two only And the like Cranmer had done no doubt if he had been brought to the Scaffold in King Henry 's Days Which had been a happy Case for him To a Scaffold they of the Roman Perswasion endeavoured many a Year to bring him and they would have thought it a happy Case for them if they could
deserved Tumults in England Iack Cade Iack Straw In Germany for their Sedition were slain almost in one month about two hundred thousand The Sword by Gods word pertaineth not to Subjects but only to Magistrates Tho the Magistrates be evil and very tyrants against the Common-wealth and enemies to Christs religion yet yee Subjects must obey in all worldly things as the Christians do under the Turk and ought so to do as long as he commandeth them not to do against God How ungodly then is it for our Subjects to take the Sword where there reigneth a most Christian prince most desirous to reform al griefs Subjects ought to make humble suit to their Prince for Reformation of al injuries and not to come with force The Sword of the Subjects at this present cometh not of God nor for the Common wealth of the Realm but of the Devil and destroyeth the Commonweale First For that it is against the word of God Secondly For that they rise so many lies whereof the Devil is ever the Author Quia mendax est Pater ejus Thirdly For that they spoile and rob men and command every man to come to them and to send to them what they please Fourthly For that they let the harvest Which is the chief sustentation of our life and God of his goodness hath sent it abundantly And they by their folly do cause it to be lost and abandoned Fiftly For that they be led by rage and fury without reason have no respect neither of the Kings Authority nor of the Papists in the West Country nor of our affaires in France nor Scotland Which by their Sedition is so much hindred that there could not be imagined so great a dammage to the Realm Sixtly That they give Commandment in the Kings name and in pain of death having none authority so to do Ever against God the Devil hath raised Sedition As appeareth by the Sedition of Dathan and Abiram and al the murmurations of the children of Israel against Moses and Aaron Also of the conspiracy against Zorobabel in the reedifying of the Temple Also against Christ and his Apostles in sundry parts of the World Also In Germany lately and now among us For the Devil can abide no right reformation in religion Civil war is the greatest scourge that can be and most certain argument of Gods indignation against us for our ingratitude that we either wil not receive his true word or that they which receive the same dishonor God in their living when they pretend to honor him with their mouths Which ingratitude and contumely God can in no wise bear at our hands The Remedies to avert Gods Indignation from us is to receive his Word and to live according therunto Returning unto God with prayer and penance Or else surely more grievous afflictions shal follow if more grievous may be then Civil wars among our selves The chief Authors of al these tumults be idle and naughty people Which nothing have nor nothing or little wil labor to have that wil riot in expending but not labor in getting And these tumults first were excitated by the Papists and others which came from the Western Camp To the intent that by sowing division among our selves we should not be able to impeach them NUM XLII The Lady Mary to the Councel justifying her self for using the Mass in K. Edwards Minority IT is no smal greyf to me to parceyve that they whom the Kings Majesty my father whose Soule god pardon made in thys worlde of nothing in respecte of that they be come to now and at hys last ende put in trust to se hys Wyll perfourmed wherunto they were al sworne upon a boke it gryeveth me I say for the Love I beare to theym to se bothe howe they break his wyll and what usurped power they take upon theym in making as they cal it lawes both cleane contrarye to hys procedynges and wyll and also ageyust the coustome of al Crystendome and in my conscyence ageynst the lawe of god and hys chyrche Which passeth al the reste But thoughe you among you have forgotten the Kyng my father yet both gods commandment and nature wyll not suffre me to do so Wherfore with gods helpe I wyll remayne an obedyent chylde to hys lawes as he left theym tylle suche tyme as the Kynges majeste my brother shal have parfayt yers of discrecyon to order the power that god hath sent hym and to be a Judge in theyse matters hymself And I doubte not but he shal then accept my so doing better then theyrs which have taken a pece of his power upon them in his mynoryte I do not a little mervayle that you can find fawte with me for observing of that lawe which was allowed by him that was a kyng not only of power but also of knowledge how to order his power To which lawes al you consented and seemed at that tyme to the outward appearance very wel to lyke the same And more immediately when the Kyng reasons to have his proceedyngs observed Wherfore I do wonder that you can fynde fawte with me and non al thys whyle with some amongst your selves for runnyng halfe a year before that which you now call a lawe ye and before the byshopps cam together Wherin me thynketh you do me very myche wronge if I should not have as mych preemynence to contynew in kepyng a ful authorysed Lawe made without parcyalyte they had both to break the lawe which at that tyme your selves must nedes confesse was of ful power and strengthe and to use alteracyons of theyr own invencyon contrary both to that ye and to your new Lawe as you call it NUM XLIII The Archbishops letter to Martin Bucer inviting him over into England GRatiam pacem Dei in Christo. Legi tuas literas ad Iohannem Halesium in quibus tristissimos Germaniae casus commemorans te in tua urbe verbi ministerio vix diutius praeesse posse scribis Gemens igitur Prophetae illud exclamavi Mirifica misericordias tuas qui Salvos facis sperantes in te a resistentibus dexterae tuae Nec dubito quin Deus hoc similes piorum gemitus exauditurus sit veram doctrinam quae hactenus in vestris Ecclesijs syncere propagata est conservaturus defensurus sit adversus omnes diaboli mundi furores Interim Saevientibus fluctuum procellis in portus confugiendum est ijs qui vela in altum tendere non possunt Tibi igitur mi Bucere portus longe tutissimus erit nostrum regnum in quo Dei beneficio semina verae doctrinae feliciter spargi caeperunt Veni igitur ad nos te nobis operarium praesta in messe Domini Non minus proderis Catholicae Dei Ecclesiae cum apud nos fueris quam si pristinas sedes retineres Adde quod adflictae patriae vulnera absens melius sanare poteris quam nunc possis praesens Omni
like some Check to the Archbishop and as tho they required of him a sort of Dependance on them now more than before and it shewed some secret Ill-will towards him This Privilege was first granted to the Prior and Chapter of Canterbury by Thomas Becket but afterwards more amply confirmed to them by St. Edmund the Archbishop in the year 1235 from which time to the present year 1540 I dare confidently â—ver That no Bishop of the Province of Canterbury had been Consecrated by the Archbishops or by any other by their Commission in any Church or Place without the Metropolitical Church of Canterbury without License first desired and obtained in writing from the Chapter of Canterbury under their Seal if we except only two or three Cases between the years 1235 and 1300 which were the occasions of great Controversies between the Archbishops Consecrating and the Bishops Consecrated on the one part and the Chapter of Canterbury on the other part which yet always ended to the advantage of the Chapter and the farther Confirmation of their Privilege herein If these Licenses be not registred in the Archbishops Registers it is not to be wondred at it being not their concern to cause those things to be enregistred which were not essential to the Confirmation or Consecration of the Bishops of their Province but related merely to the Privileges of the Chapter of Canterbury But they are all enregistred and may be found in the Registers of that Chapter If therefore the Prior and Convent of Canterbury did at this time require Boner to take out such a License before his Consecration they thereby gave no more evidence of any sinister Design or Ill-will against the Archbishop than they had done at any time before to him or any of his Predecessors for 300 years whensoever any Bishop of the Province was to be Consecrated out of their Church Page 95. line 18. Robert King Titular Bishop Reonen Suffragan to the Bishop of Lincoln was this year 1541. Consecrated Bishop of Oxford The Date or his Consecrators I cannot assign the Act being omitted in the Archbishop's Register Whensoever a Suffragan Bishop was promoted to any real Bishoprick he had no need of any new Consecration the Character and Order of Bishop having been all along as full valid and effectual in him as in any Bishop whatsoever So that in such a Promotion no other Form was observed than in the Translation of any Bishop from one Diocess to another viz. Election and Confirmation But in this case not so much as that was necessary for the Bishoprick of Oxford being then newly erected King the first Bishop of it was to be put in Possession of it not by any Act of the Archbishop's but by Letters Patents of the King the Founder of it which Letters were not issued out until the first day of September in the following year Page 111. line 13. The names of the chief Actors of a Conspiracy against the Archbishop were Thornden who lived in the Archbishop's Family and eat at his Table and with whom he used to converse most familiarly So also Pag. 121. line 12. Thornton who was Suffragan of Dover the Archbishop made Prebendary of his Church and whom he always set at his own Mess. Page 120. line 5. Dr. Thornton who was very great with the Archbishop but secretly false to him Page 304. line 7. ab imo This had the Suffragan of Dover Dr. Thornton done In these and other Passages of this History the Names and Persons of Dr. Thornton and Dr. Thornden both Suffragans of the Diocess of Canterbury are confounded Iohn Thornton Prior of Dover was Suffragan to Archbishop Warham and died in his time Richard Thornden was Monk of Christ-Church Canterbury and at the dissolution of that Monastery in 1539 or 1540 and Conversion of it into a College of Secular Canons was constituted the first Prebendary of it and soon after made Suffragan of the Diocess with the Title of Bishop of Dover in which Office he continued till his death ultimo Mariâ— He never lived in the Archbishop's Family but in the Monastery till the Dissolution of it and after that constantly resided upon his Prebend and other Benefices which he held in the Diocess You might perhaps find it noted That the Archbishop always set him at his own Mess which might give you occasion to think that he sometimes lived in the Archbishop's Family whereas indeed no more was meant thereby than that the Archbishop was wont to shew to him extraordinary Respect whensoever he attended him for in those days Suffragan Bishops however usual were treated with Contempt enough not wont to be admitted to dine at the Archbishops own Table in the Hall of the Archbishop's Palace There were generally three Tables spread in the Archbishops Hall and served at the same time The Archbishops Table at which ordinarily sate none but Peers of the Realm Privy-Counsellors and Gentlemen of the greatest Quality The Almoners Table at which sate the Chaplains and all Guests of the Clergy beneath Diocesan Bishops and Abbots The Stewards Table at which sate all other Gentlemen The Suffragan Bishops then were wont to fit at the Almoners Table and the Archbishop in admitting his Suffragan Thornden to his own Table did him an unusual Honour which was therefore noted to aggravate the Ingratitude of the man conspiring against the Archbishop Page 126. line 13. About this time 1544. it was I conjecture that the King changed the Archbishop's Coat of Arms for unto the year 1543 he bore his Paternal Coat of Three Cranes Sable as I find by a Date set under his Arms yet remaining in a Window in Lambeth-House Those Arms of Archbishop Cranmer here mentioned to remain in a Window in Lambeth-House together with the Arms of the other Archbishops succeeding to him since the Reformation and placed in the same Window were painted at the cost of and set up by my Lord Archbishop Sancroft not many years since Page 141. med One of the very first things that was done in K. Edward's Reign in relation to the Church was That the Bishops c. should be made to depend intirely upon the King and his Council c. and should take Commissions from him for the exercise of their Office and Jurisdiction and those to last only during the King's Pleasure In this I suppose the Archbishop had his hand And therefore he began this Matter with himself Petitioning for such a Commission which was granted to him Feb. 7. 1546. This Matter was not now first begun or done The Archbishop and all the Bishops of England had taken Commissions from K. Henry in the very same Form mutatis mutandis in the year 1535. Page 161. med An English Exile naming himself E. P. in Q. Mary's days published again the Archbishop's Book against Vnwritten Verities and prefixed to it a Preface of his own I will add one Passage taken out of this Book about the middle whereby it may be seen what
concurring with him in the same Opinion Page 274. line 5. ab imo The other was Richard Turner in former time Curate of Chartham in Kent and commonly called Turner of Canterbury living in the Family of Mr. Morice the Archbishop's Secretary who held the Impropriation of that Parsonage and had presented this man to the Vicarage It would be very ill for me if the Parsonage of Chartham were Impropriate It never yet was and as I hope never shall be in the Possâ—ssion of any Lay-man Mr. Morice only held it at that time by Lease of Richardson the Rector of it with obligation to provide and pay a Curate which was this Turner Page 275. med And this I judge to be that Turner whom the Archbishop nominated for Ireland to the Archbishoprick of Armagh having lived long in his Diocess and so well known to him and whom he had I suppose removed to Canterbury to a Prebend or some other Preferment there He never was Prebendary of Canterbury Page 279. line 5. ab imo While King Edward was in his Progress 1552. some about his Person to make the better way for their Sacrilegious Designs and to make the King the more inclinable to lay hands on the Episcopal Demeans or at least to clip and pare them buzzed about Rumors c. This Sir William Cecyl the Secretary who was now with the King laboured to hinder for he was a very great Favourer as of the Reformed Clergy so of their Estate and Honours He gave but bad evidence of such Favour to the Clergy and Estate of the Church when many years after this the Revenue of the Church being then also much more diminished than it was at the time of this Design he tore away from the Bishoprick of Peterborough the far better part of the Lands and Revenues wherewith it had been endowed which he effected by procuring Bishop Scamler to be translated from thence to Norwich which Translation by the baseness of that Bishop conspiring with the sacrilegious greediness of two Potent Courtiers was the ruin of both those Bishopricks Page 307. line 10. So on the day appointed Aug. 27. 1553. the Archbishop together with Sir Thomas Smith K. Edward's Secretary and Dr. May came before the Queen's Commissioners and the Archbishop brought in his Inventory We are leâ—t to guess what he was now cited for I suppose it was to lay to his chaâ—ge Heresy and his Marriage It was undoubtedly to charge him with Treason for what he had done in the business of Queen Iaâ— which the appearance oâ— Smith and May at the same time with him confirmeth It was too early yet â—o object to him either Heresy or Marriage Page 310. line 7. Cuthhert Bishop of Durham formerly dâ—prived was restored Edmond Boner Bishop of London restored Nicolas Ridley being removed from the said See and cast into Prison c. These words are said to be verbatim described out of the Register of the Church of Canterbury I know not Sir whether you inspected that Register with your own eyes but I assure you that Register relateth the matter otherwise viz. that Boner was restored to the See of London then Canonically void by the Translation of Ridley the Bishop of it to the See of Durham made in the very end of K. Edward's Reign and that Tunstall was restored to Durham void by the Deprivation of Ridley deprived thereof for Heresy and Sedition Ibid. line 13. How they proceeded with the Clergy in general for being married may be measured c. Some were deprived never convict nor called I use the words of an Author that then lived Dr. Parker Some induced to resign upon promise of Pension and the Promise as yet never performed Over-against these latter words are placed in the Margent the Names of Dr. Ponet Tayler Parker Of Ponet and Tayler it had been said immediately before in this and the foregoing Page that they were deprived of their Bishopricks If then they were deprived they were not induced to resign upon Promise of Pension Of Poinet particularly it was related from the Register of Canterbury that he was ejected and imprisoned and deprived of Episcopacy for being Married I suppose the words of the Register are privatus Episcopatu which ought to be rendred deprived of his Bishoprick viz. of Winchester not of Episcopacy for the Order is indelible and so allowed to be by those who deprived him The Causes of Tayler's Deprivation are reported from the same Register but Marriage is not mentioned among them Nay we are assured by undoubted Testimony vide supra Page 156. That he never was married Farther this Account said to be taken from the Words of Dr. Parker is not his but they are the words of the Anonymous Large Defence of Priests Marriage published by him Pag. 318. med In the first year of Queen Mary a very soul Scandal was blown about of her That she was with Child by Bishop Gardiner however it was raised whether of her Enemies to render her odicus or of some Zealots of Popish Religion to shew the desire they had of her matching with him It will be very difficult to persuade the world that any Zealots of the Popish Religion who are so prejudiced against the Marriage of the Clergy should desire the Marriage of a Queen whom they loved so much with a Bishop of their own Communion whom they no less admired Page 324. line 2. Cardinal Pole in answer to both Queen Mary's Letters thought fit to send his mind at large by his Messenger Thomas Goldwell who was once if I mistake not Prior of the Church of Canterbury but long since fled out of England and lived with Pole and by the Queen afterwards preferred to the Bishoprick of S. Asaph The Prior of Canterbury and Bishop of St. Asaph had nothing common but their Names The one was a Regular the other a Secular The first Doctor of Divinity before the other was born and dead before the other was made Bishop Page 328. line 4. ab imo This is some account of the Church of Canterbury's doings in pursuance of the Queen's Instructions before-mentioned viz. against the Married Clergy This account relateth only the Proceedings of that Chapter against the Married Clergy Members of the Cathedral Church or Incumbents within the Deanry of the Arches The same Register of that Church from whence this account is taken relateth at large their Proceedings against all the Married Clergy within the whole Diocess of Canterbury and in the other Dâ—anries of the peculiar Jurisdiction of that See Page 329. line 11. Bernard Ochin Prebâ—ndary of Canterbury So also pag. 400 c. His Name was Bernardinus a man sufficiently known Page 331. line 9. ab imo The other thing thought hard concerning these Orders taken with the Married Clergy was that after these poor men had thus done their Penances the Imposers of these Penalties were not so good as they pretended they would be c. towards them not restoring them to
And Smith The Duke of Somerset's Death Inter Foxii MSS. Winchester suppos'd to be in the Plot. Articles against the Duke What he is blamed for The new Book of Common-Prayer established Troubles at Frankford Coverdale made Bp of Exon. Scory Bp Elect of Rochester The ABp appoints a Guardian of the Spiritualties of Lincoln Cranm. Reg And of Wigorn. Cranm. Regist. And of Chichester And of Hereford And of Bangor Hoper visits his Diocess No. LXIII Two Disputations concerning the Sacrament Miscellan C. Dr. Redman dies Bâ—con's Reports Fox's Acts. The ABp and others appointed to Reform the Ecclesiastical Laws The Method they observed Scory Cranm. Regist Coverdalâ— An. 1552. The Articles of Religion framed and published Fox The ABp's diligence in them Council-Book No. LXIV The ABp retires to Ford. Consulted with for fit Persons to fill the Irish Seeâ— * I suppose this might be a slip of the ABp's Pen or Memory writing Whitacre for Goodacre who afterwards was placed in that Irish See and haâ— been Poynet 's Chaplain Some Account of the four Divines nominated by him for the Archbishoprick of Armagh Mr. Wâ—ithead Mr. Turner Bale's Cent. Thomas Rosse or Rose Robert Wisdome * The Iewel of Ioy. †They were both forced to recant openly at St. Pauls Cross in the Year 1544 together with one Shingleton And herâ—upon I suppose they conveyed themselves into the North parts for Security The Character the ABp gave of the two former Turner designed for Armagh But declines it Hist. Ref. Vol. 1. p. 205. N. LXV LXVI Goodacre made ABpof Armagh Vocation of Iohn Bale Beatae memoriae in Hibernià concionatorem vigilantissimum ac Theologica eloquentia non immerito commendatum Balaei Centur. Letters from the Council to Ireland recommending the Irish Bishops Council-Book A Rumour gigen out of the ABp's Covetousness and Wealth Which Cecyl sends him word of The ABp's Answer for himself and the other Bishops †He probably was Holgate ABp of York No. LXVII This very Slander raised upon him to K. Henry Fox K. Henry promised him Lands This promise performed by King Edward His Purchases No. LXVIII The Arch-bishoprick fleeced by K. Henry Lands past away to the Crown by Exchange Villarâ— Cantian Lands made over to the Arch-bishop The Arch-bishop parted also with Knoll and Otford to the King MSS. C.C.C.C What moved him to make these Exchanges His Cares and Fears for the King His care for filling the Vacancies of the Church Labored under an Ague this Autumn The great Mortality of Agues about this Time Stow's Chron. That which most concerned him in his Sickness The Secretary sends the Arch-bishop the Copy of the Emperor's Pacification Vid. Slâ—id Lib. 24. His Kindness for Germany His Correspondence with Germany And with Herman Arch-bishop of Colen The Sutableness of both these Arch-bishops Dispositions Their diligence in Reforming Mel. Epist. Printed at Leyden 1647. Pag. 34. Nec aliam video nisi hanc unam ut retineant Episcopi Collegia sâ—a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 suas opes recipiant doctrinam piam Ubi supra The Troubles of Bp Tonstol MS. of an old Council-Book The Cause of this Bp's Punishment A Bill in Parliament to attaint Tonstal The Care of the Diocess committed to the Dean The new Common-Prayer began to be used Stow's Chron. This Book put into French for the King's French Subjects The Age still vicious Iewâ—l of Ioy. A new Sect in Kent Council-Book The ABp's Business in Kent A Letter for Installing Bishop Hoper Council-Book The Vicar of Beden Council-Book Sampson and Knox. The Council favour Knox. Collect. Vol. 2. p. 42. Council-Book Iohn Taylor An. 1553. Great use made of the ABp at Council The Articles of Religion enjoined by the King's Authority Cran. Regist. An. 1553. The Catechism for Schools A Catechism set forth by the Synod Fox The ABp opposeth the new Settlement of the Crown Denieth before the Council to subscribe to the Exclusion of the Lady Mary Foxii MSS. Sets his Hand The ABp ingratefully dealt with The Council subscribe and swear to the limited Succession Vol. II. p. 223. No. LXVIII The King dies Cooper's Chron. His Character Nic. Vdal his Pres. to Erasm. Paraphrase The ABp delights in this Prince's Proficiency K. Edward's Writings Fox Fox Mr. Petyt's MSS. Sir W. H. MSS. Sir W. H. MSS. Sir W. H. MSS. Sir W. H. MSS. Full. Ch. Hist. Full. Ch. Hist. Ibid. Mr. Petyt's MSS. Cotton Libr. and Hist. Ref. Trinity-Col Libr. Cott. Librar Cott. Libr. Sir W. H. MSS. Sir W. H. MSS. Sir W. H. MSS. Sir W. H. MSS. Fox The King 's Memorial for Religion The Ab◠〈◊〉 at Council His Presence in Council in the Year 1550. In the Year 1551. In the Year 1552. An. 1553. Iohn Harley The ABp's and Counsellors concern with the Lady Iane. No. LXIX No. LXX They declare for Q. Mary No. LXXI And write to Northumberland to lay down his Arms. Stow. The Queen owned by the Ambassadors The ABp misreported to have said Mass. Mass at Canterbury Which he makes a publick Declaration against Foxii MSS. The Declaration Appears before the Commissioners at Pauls And before the Council The ABp of York committed to the Tower and his Goods seized C.C.C.C. Librar Miscell Bâ— At Battersea At Cawood Gardiner's Passage of the two ABps This Reign begins with Rigour Halts Oration The Protestant Bishops deprived Registr Eccl. Cant. The hard Usage of the inferior Clergy * Mr. Rich. Wilks ‖ Dr. Parker †Mr. Bradford Bullingham and May. ‖ A great Number * Dr. Ponet Taylâ—r Parker Preface to the Defence of Priests Marriage * Mr. Aylmer Harbour for Faithful Subjects Professors cast into the Marshalsea Winchester's Alms. Pet. Martyr writes of this to Calvin P. Martyr's Epist. The State of the Church now P. Martyr Amico cuidam The Queen leaves all Matters to Winchester I. Rogers The Queen crowned The Service still said The Queen's Proclamation of her Religion Signs of a Change of Religion The ABp adviseth to flight No. LXXII Cranmer will not flee Whither the Prosessors fly And who ‖ Chiliades Pref. to Cranmer's Book of the Sacrament in Latin Duke of Northumberland put to death His Speech No. LXXIII Sir Iohn Gates his Speech And Palmer's The Duke's labours to get hiâ— Life Wardword p. 43. Whether he was always â— Papist P. Martyr departs Vit. P. Mart. per Simler Malice towards him A Scandal of the Queen Titus B. 2. A Parliament Hales Oration The Parliament repeal Q. Katherine's Divorce and Cranmer taxed for it Hist. Reform Vol. 2. p. 254. The ABp attainted of Treason The Dean of Canterbury acts in the Vacancy Ex Reg. Eccl. Cant. The ABp sues for Pardon of Treason No. LXXIV Obtains it He desires to open his Mind to the Queen concerning Religion A Convocation How it opened The ABp and three more crowded together in the Tower The Queen sends to Pole The Contents of her Letters Concerning theSupremacy Concerning the new Bishops Pole's Advice to the Queen
MEMORIALS OF The Most Reverend Father in God Thomas Cranmer SOMETIME Lord Archbishop of CANTERBURY WHEREIN The HISTORY of the CHURCH and the REFORMATION of it during the Primacy of the said ARCHBISHOP are greatly Illustrated and many singular Matters relating thereunto now First Published In Three Books Collected chiefly from RECORDS REGISTERS Authentick LETTERS and other ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPTS By IOHN STRYPE M. A. LONDON Printed for RICHARD CHISWELL at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard MDCXCIV EFFIGIES VERA REVERENDISSIMI Câ—â—â—MERI ARCHIEPISCOPI CANTUARIENSIS H Holbein pinxit Natus 1489 July 2. Consecratus 1533. Marzo Martyrio Coronatus 1556. Mar 21. pag 179 Printed for Ric Chiswell at the Rose and Crowne in S t Pauls Church yard TO THE Most Reverend Father in God JOHN By the DIVINE PROVIDENCE Lord Archbishop of CANTERBVRY Primate of all England and Metropolitan AND One of Their Majesties most Honourable Privy Council May it please Your Grace TO pardon the Presumption of the Obscure Person that dedicates this Book to Your GRACE for the sake of the Renowned Man it treats of Viz. One of your Illustrious Predecessors an Archbishop of Canterbury that hath deserved so eminently of that See nay and of the whole British Church I may say that deserved Best of any Archbishop before him that wore that Mitre To whose solid Learning Deliberation and indefatigable Pains both the Kings and People of this Realm owe their Deliverance from the long and cruel Bondage of Rome For it is true what the Romanists say in Obloquy of this Archbishop and we Protestants say it to his Eternal Fame That he was the first of all the Archbishops of Canterbury that made a Defection from the Papal Chair Thereby vindicating this Crown from a base Dependance upon a Foreign Jurisdiction But whereas Parsons saith That this was the first Change of Religion in any Archbishop of Canterbury from the beginning unto his days this is not so true For sundry of Archbishop Cranmer's Predecessors to look no further than Two or Three hundred Years backward were of different Judgments from the Church of Rome in some Points His immediate Predecessor Warbam approved of the King's Title of Supreme Head of the Church under Christ in his own Kingdom against the Doctrine of the Pope's Universal Authority And a Century of Years before him Archbishop Chichely tho he were made the Pope's Legate refused to exercise his Power Legantine further than he should be authorized thereunto by the King And Archbishop Islip as long before him disliked of Dissolving those Marriages that were contracted by such as had before vowed the single Life For tho he laid a Punishment upon a Countess of Kent who being a Widow and then Professed afterwards secretly married to a certain Knight named Abrincourt yet he divorced them not but permitted them to live together And the Judgment of Archbishop Arundel who lived in K. Richard the Second's Reign was for the Translation of the Scriptures into the Vulgar Tongue and for the Laities use thereof For He preaching the Funeral Sermon of Queen Anne the beloved Wife of that King after she deceased at Sheen in the Year 1392. commended her as for her other Vertuous Accomplishments so particularly for her Study of the Holy Scriptures and of the Sense of them and for having them in the Vulgar Tongue as I find by an Ancient MS. Fragment writ near Three hundred Years ago formerly belonging to the Church of Worcester in these Words following Also the Bushop of Caunterbury Thomas of Arundel that now is sey a Sermon at Westminster thereas was many an hundred of people at the buryeng of quene Anne of whose Sowle God have mercy And in his commendation of her he seyd That it was more joy of her than of any woman that ever he knew For notwithstanding that she was Alien born being the Daughter of the Emperor Charles IV. she had on English al the iiij gospels with the Doctors upon hem And he seyd that she sent them unto him And he seyd that they were good and true and commended her in that she was so great a Lady and also an Alyan and wolde study so holy so vertuouse bokes And he blamed in his Sermon sharply the negligence of the Prelates and other men c. So that it is not true what Parsons saith if he mean That no Archbishops of Canterbury before Cranmer varied from the Church of Rome in any of her Doctrines But true it is tho not so much to their Credits that none of them however sensible they were of the Roman Errors and Superstitions did in good earnest bestir themselves to set this Church free of them before our abovenamed Archbishop being the sixty eighth from Augustine the Monk resolutely and bravely undertook and effected it Indeed they spent not their Zeal their Treasure and their Interest this way so much as in contending about Superiority and their Prerogatives in exempting their Clergy from the Cognizance of the Temporal Magistrate in Applications to and Courting of the Bishops of Rome in Persecuting those they called Hereticks in Eternizing their own Names by founding Religious Houses and building Stately Palaces and Shrines and in exhibiting themselves in great Worldly Pomp and Appearance But blessed be God for Archbishop Cranmer by means of whose Reformation succeeded a Series of better tho not so splendid Archbishops Who made conscience of minding things more suitable to their high Vocation and the Spiritual Trust committed to them Men that regarded little or nothing the vain shews of exterior Grandeur and Glory nor sought Great Things for themselves but with their great Predecessor St. Paul on whom lay the Care of all the Churches spent and wore out themselves in the Restoration of the Kingdom of Christ so happily begun by the said Archbishop Cranmer in this Island Such were Parker Grindal Whitgift the Three first Protestant Archbishops next after him what he planted they watered and God gave a Blessed Increase to Whose most excellent Lives and Conducts in the Government of this Church as well as in their own more private and Domestick Conversation their rare Piety Prudence Patience Courage and Activity I can scarcely temper my Pen from making excursions into Of which I could fill even Volumes had I Leisure Favour and Countenance from those Large Collections which I have for divers Years been storing up with great delight partly out of their own Original Letters and partly from other MSS. in their times But besides these first Archbishops during the Long Reign of Q. Elizabeth who by their Care and Diligence established and settled that Reformation of which Archbishop Cranmer laid the first Stones we are beholden unto the same Archbishop for all the rest of the Worthy and Painful Prelates of that Metropolitical See who have taken Care of this Excellently Reformed Church even unto Your GRACE Whose Deserts towards this Church and the Reformation have raised you to sit in Archbishop Cranmer's
Chair tho with as much Reluctancy in You as was in Him Of Your GRACE'S Endowments to qualify You for this most Eminent Station I will be wholly silent knowing how abhorrent Your Generous Nature is from Reading or Hearing Your Own Commendations Nor MY LORD is this my End in this my Dedication But this it is That You would so far Encourage these my Weak and Imperfect Labours done out of a Good Intent as to cast a Favourable Eye upon them for the sake of Your Glorious Predecessor the Subject of this Book and to repute me among the Number May it please Your GRACE Of Your most Humble and most Obedient Servants JOHN STRYPE THE PREFACE I Think it fit by way of Preface to these Memorials to admonish the Reader of a few things preparatory to the Perusal thereof As What it was put me at first upon making these Collections concerning Archbishop Cranmer and the State of the Church in his time What induced me to make them Publick And What Credit may be given to them with some other occasional matters I. As to the first I have been for a long time not a little addicted to read whatsoever I could of the Reformation of this famous Church that I might truly understand for what Reasons it was at first attempted in what Methods it proceeded by what Men it was chiefly managed and carried on and how it stood in truth as to its Doctrine Discipline and Government Reputation Learning Piety and such like in its first Establishment and the Earlier Times of it For which purpose I did not only read over what we have in Print of these Matters but for more satisfaction I was carried on to look into MSS. whether Registers Records Letters Instruments and such like A great sort of which by Providence fell into my hands And besides them I have turned over many more in Libraries and elsewhere from whence I made Transcriptions Extracts and Collections for my own use and satisfaction which swelled to no little bulk And while I was doing this I took always a more curious View into the Lives Manners and Doings Learning Virtues and Abilities of the chief leading men whether Archbishops and Bishops or other Church-men of whom we have but little Account extant tho many of them very Great and Good men little more remaining of some of them than their Names The Reverence I bore in my mind to Archbishop Cranmer the Father of the Reformation here in England and the first of that Ancient Metropolitan See that so bravely shook off the Pope and his Appendages inclined me especially to gather up what Notices I could of him Afterwards as my leisure served me out of my indigested Mass of Notes I compiled into some order Memorials of him and of the Affairs of the Church during his Primacy in which he for the most part was concerned and bore a great share with K. Henry and the Lord Cromwel his Vicegerent in Spirituals After some Years these Memorials lying by me I enlarged considerably and digested them into Annals and had thoughts of making them Publick being excited and encouraged thereunto by my Friends who were privy to these my Doings II. And indeed many Considerations induced me hereunto As in general the great Benefit of reading Histories of former Times which what that is take in the Words of Iohn Fox For the things which be first are to be preferred before those which be later And then is the reading of Histories much necessary in the Church to know what went before and what followed after And therefore not without cause History in old Authors is called The Witness of Times the Light of Verity the Life of Memory the Teacher of Life and Shewer of Antiquity Without the knowledge whereof man's Life is blind and soon may fall into any kind of Error as by manifest experience we have to see in these desolate later Times of the Church whenas the Bishops of Rome under colour of Antiquity have turned Truth into Heresy and brought in such new-found Devices of strange Doctrine and Religion as in the former Ages of the Church were never heard of And all through Ignorance of Times and for lack of True History And therefore the Use of History being so considerable Historians in some Kingdoms have been maintained by Publick Encouragement And so the Writer of the Epistle to K. Edward before Erasmus's Paraphrase Englished propounded once to that King That there should be a Publick Salary allotted to some able Persons to Translate good Books and to Write Chronicles for bestowing so great a Benefit on the Commonwealth But particularly the History of the Church and matters relating to Religion have a more special benefit as being conversant about Spiritual things which are weightier by far and concern us more a great deal than Temporal But the more is the pity in this sort of History there is a greater Defect than in the other I speak of our own Nation for tho the History of the State in the last Age was excellently done by the Pens of the Lord Herbert and Mr. Cambden yet the Matters of the Church they professedly declined or did but touch at the former saying expresly His intention was not in an History to discuss Theological Matters as holding it sufficient to have pointed at the places where they are controverted And the latter in his History as often as he came to matters of the Church tells us That he left his Readers to the Ecclesiastical Historian Which hath made me wonder at and apt to accuse the Slothfulness of that Age that during all the time of K. Henry K. Edward and Q. Mary wherein Religion was so tossed about and took up so much of those Reigns there is no one Ecclesiastical History thereof written except that of the diligent and learned Mr. Fox and during the long Reign of Q. Elizabeth and K. Iames I think none at all Till of late years when by length of time and destruction of many Original MSS. by the Civil Wars divers remarkable Transactions were buried and lost some few Learned Men employed themselves in Collecting and Publishing what Memorials of Religion and the Church they could retrieve as namely Dr. Fuller Dr. Heylin and especially Dr. Burnet now the Right Reverend Bishop of Sarum to whom the English Church must be ever beholden for his great and happy Pains contributed hereunto But yet there be good Gleanings after these Writers and many things of remark there are relating to the Church in those Three busie Reigns of Henry Edward and Mary whereof these Historians are either wholly silent or speak imperfectly or erroneously Some whereof in my Searches I have met with which I have disposed in these Memorials But besides the General Benefit of History especially Ecclesiastical this Particular History now recommended unto the English Nation may produce this good effect To make us value and esteem as we ought our Reformed Religion when we see by
The King linked Cranmer with him in all his Proceedings about Q. Katherine The King and Archbishop appeal from the Pope to a General Council The King writes to Dr. Boner his Ambassador in that behalf The Archbishop is Consecrated The Pope's Bulls The Archbishop surrenders them to the King The method of the Consecration The Archbishop's Oath for the Temporalties The Archbishop pronounceth the Divorce The Archbishop's Judgment of the Marriage CHAP. V. The Archbishop Visits his Diocess The Archbishop forbids Preaching Visits his Diocess The delusion of a Nun in Kent The Archbishop appeals from the Pope The Archbishop's Letter to Boner Disputes in the Parliament against the Pope's Supremacy Licenses for Chappels CHAP. VI. The Archbishop presseth the Translation of the Bible The Archbishop labours the Reformation of the Church What he did this Convocation A Book for Preaching and the Beads Dispersed by the Archbishop to all the Bishops The Archbishop of York preaches at York The Clergy and Universities subscribe against the Pope Cranmer and others administer the Oath of Succession to the Clergy And to Sir Tho. More who refused it Cranmer's Argument with him More offers to swear to the Succession it self Bishop Fisher offers the same The Archbishop writes to Crumwel in their behalf The Archbishops endeavour to save the Lives of More and Fisher. CHAP. VII The Archbishop Visits the Diocess of Norwich A Premunire brought against Bishop Nix The Archbishop visits this Bishop's See The Bishop of Norwich a Persecutor Goâ—dric Lee and Salcot Consecrated Bishops CHAP. VIII The Archbishop Preacheth at Canterbury The Archbishop preaches up the King's Supremacy at Canterbury A Prior preaches against him Whom he convents before him The Archbishop acquaints the King with the matter A Provincial Visitation Winchester herein opposeth him The Archbishop's Vindication of his Title of Primate The Bishop of London refuseth his Visitation And Protests against him Cranmer sends him a part of the New Testament to translate And his Answer Lawney's Jest upon Bishop Stokesly Who this Lawney was CHAP. IX Monasteries visited Monasteries visited The Archbishop for their Dissolution The Visitors Informations Bishops Diocesan and Suffragan Consecrated Suffragan Bishops usual in the Realm Bishops without Title Nic. Shaxton Edw. Fox Will. Barlow Geo. Brown A Memorial of the good Services of Archbishop Brown in Ireland Tho. Mannyng Iohn Salisbury CHAP. X. The Audience Court The Archbishop's Audience-Court struck at The Archbishop defends it The Archbishop promoting a Reformation in the Convocation CHAP. XI Articles of Religion Articles published and recommended by the King The Original thereof The Original sent into the North to shew to the Rebels The Contents of them Articles of Faith Articles relating to Ceremonies A Conjecture that the Pen of the Archbishop was here CHAP. XII Cranmer 's Iudgment about some Cases of Matrimony Two remarkable Books published I. The Book of Articles II. A Book against the Pope called The Bishop's Book Certain Cases of Matrimony put to the Archbishop His Solution Refuseth to grant a Dispensation for the Marriage of a Relation His Letter thereupon He restrains the number of Proctors Which some complain of to the Parliament The Archbishop divorceth Q. Anne A License for a Chappel Bucer this year dedicates a Book to the Archbishop Bishops consecrated Richard Sampson William Rugge Rob. Warton CHAP. XIII The Bishop's Book The Bishop's Book by the Archbishop's means Winchester's Opposition The King makes Animad versions upon it Published How esteemed Enlarged and Reprinted Some account of the foresaid Book Names of the Composers CHAP. XIV The Archbishop visits his Diocess Goes down into his Diocess Gets a License to visit The Vicar of Croydon The Archbishop visits his Diocess What course he took for the preventing of Superstition CHAP. XV. The Bible Printed His Joy at the publishing the English Bible Presents one by Crumwel to the King Cranmer's Letters to Crumwel Some further Particulars concerning this Edition of the Bible The Printer's Thanks and Requests to Crumwel Grafton to Crumwel The Printer apprehensive of another Edition Other Requests of the Printer CHAP. XVI Many Suffragan Bishops made The Feast of S. Thomas c. forbid Rob. Holgate Consecrated Bishop Iohn Bird Lewis Thomas Some account of Bird. Thomas Morley Rich. Yngworth Iohn Thornton Richard Thornden Iohn Hodgkin Henry Holbeach Suffragans CHAP. XVII The Bible in English allowed The Archbishop reads upon the Hebrews A Declaration for reading the Bible The Bible received and read with great Joy The Archbishop had a hand in Lambert's Death The Bishops dispute against Lambert's Reasons CHAP. XVIII The Archbishop's Iudgment of the Eucharist Cranmer zealous for the Corporal Presence His Reasons for it Sanders his slanders of the Archbishop concerning his Opinion in the Sacrament When Cranmer changed his Opinion Latimer of the same Judgment Divers Priests marry Wives The King's Proclamation against Priests Marriages Anabaptists A Commission against them The way wardness of the Priests occasions the King to write to the Justices The Archbishop visits the Diocess of Hereford Bishops Consecrated William Finch Iohn Bradley CHAP. XIX The Act of Six Articles The Archbishop makes Nic. Wotton Commissary of his Faculties The King offended with the Archbishop and some other Bishops The Six Articles opposed by the Archbishop The Arguments the Archbishop made use of at this time lost The King's Message to the Archbishop by the Lords A Book of Ceremonies Laboured to be brought in A Convocation The Papists rejoice Two Priories surrendred to the Archbishop The Archbishop and Crumwel labour with the King about the new Bishopricks Bishops this year Iohn Bell Iohn Skyp CHAP. XX. The Archbishop in Commission The Archbishop's Enemies accuse him His Honesty and Courage in discharge of a Commission And his Success therein Questions of Religion to be discussed by Divines by the King's Command The Names of the Commissioners Seventeen Questions upon the Sacrament The Archbishop's Judgment upon these Questions The Judgments of other Learned Men concerning other Points An Act to prevent Divorces The Archbishop to Osiander concerning the Germans abuse of Matrimony CHAP. XXI The largest Bible printed Some account of printing the English Bible The New Testament printed 1526. And Burnt Reprinted about 1530. Burnt again The Scripture prohibited in a Meeting at the Star-Chamber The New Testament Burnt the third time The whole Bible printed 1537. Matthews that is Rogers's Bible About 1538 the Bible printed again in Paris The Printers fall into the Inquisition The Bible printed with French Presses in London The largest Bible published in the year 1540. Boner's Admonition for reading the Bible The Bible supprest again Anno 1542 3. King Henry's Judgment for the use of the Bible CHAP. XXII The Archbishop retired The Archbishop keeps himself more retired The Archbishop issues out his Commission for the Consecrating of Boner Boner's Oath of Fidelity The Archbishop makes a
Commissary in Calais Butler a better Commissary His Troubles The occasion thereof the discovery of a Religious Cheat. Glazier Commissary in Calais The Archbishop's Judgment of Admission of Scholars into the School belonging to the Cathedral Bishops Consecrated Edmund Boner Nic. Hethe Tho. Thirlby Some account of Thirlby's Rise CHAP. XXIII All-Souls College visited The Archbishop visits All-Souls College Visits it a second time The Archbishop gives Orders about Shrines The King to the Archbishop for searching after Shrines The Archbishop's Orders accordingly to his Dean his Archdeacon and Commissary The Archbishop lays Bekesburn to the See Learned Preachers preferred by the Archbishop The Archbishop makes some recant A Convocation Their business Bishops consecrated William Knight Iohn Wakeman Iohn Chambre Arthur Bulkely Robert King CHAP. XXIV The King's Book revised The King's Book revised by the Archbishop Divers Discourses of the Archbishop The goodly Primer The Archbishop instrumental to the Reformation of Scotland An Act procured by the Archbishop Paul Bush Consecrated CHAP. XXV Presentments at a Visitation The King's Book published by Authority A Visitation at Canterbury Presentments Reflections upon the former Presentments The Prebendaries and Preachers admonished by the Archbishop CHAP. XXVI A black Cloud over the Archbishop The Prebendaries Plot against the Archbishop Winchester the chief Manager Winchester designs the Death of divers of the Court And of the Archbishop and his Friends The Papers relating to Archbishop Cranmer's Accusation The Contents thereof The Canons and Preachers of Canterbury Cranmer's Chaplains complained of at the Sessions They prepare the Articles and prâ—fer them They Article against the Archbishop himself London's Practices A great Mass of Articles against the Archbishop procured The chief Instruments Gardiner Serles Shether The Bishop of Winchester's discourse with a Prebendary of Canterbury Willoughby and London wait at the Council-Chamber Willoughby brought to the L. Privy Seal and to Winchester The Contents of the Articles against the Archbishop More Articles against his Commissary More still The Witnesses The Prebendaries deliver the Articles CHAP. XXVII The King the Archbishop's Friend in this Danger The King himself discovers all to the Archbishop The Archbishop desires a Commission The Archbishop in Commission expostulates with his Accusers Shâ—ther in Prison sends to Winchester Their Reasons which they pretended for what they did Cockes and Hussey Commissioners and his Officers false New Commissioners sent down The Register false The Delinquents Chambers and Chests searched The Treachery of Thornton and Barber The Archbishop's discourse to them The Conspirators are imprisoned Their Release Their Confessions and Letters The Ends of the Conspirators CHAP. XXVIII The Archbishop falls into more Troubles The Archbishop accused before the Parliament The Palace of Canterbury burnt The Council accuse the Archbishop The King sends privately for him Comes before the Council The King rebukes the Council for Cranmer The King changes the Archbishop's Arms. CHAP. XXIX Occasional Prayers and Suffrages Prayers to be made against immoderate Rain English Suffrages commanded to be used The Contents of the King's Letter to that end A Procession for the King's Expedition The Councâ—l's Letter to the Archbishop Popery prevails Gardiner and the Bishops now carry all Bishop of Landaff removed to York His Oath CHAP. XXX The Archbishop reformeth the Canon Law The Archbishop sets upon reforming the Canon Law An Act concerning it The Progress made by the Archbishop in this Work The MS. of these Laws The Archbishop labours in this Work under K. Edward The Archbishop employed in mending Service-Books The King consults with the Archbishop for the Redress of certain Superstitions The Opportunity of Winchester's absence taken The Archbishop prevails with the King in two great Points Seeks to redress Alienation of the Revenues of the Cathedral Scripture and Sermons more common by the Archbishop's means Anthony Kitchen Consecrated A Proclamation against the English Testament He interprets a Statute of his Church The Archbishop by the King's Command pens a Form for a Communion His last Office to the King BOOK II. CHAP. I. He Crowns King Edward COnceives great hopes of K. Edward The Archbishop takes a Commission to execute his Office K. Edward Crowned by the Archbishop The manner of the Coronation The Archbishop's Speech at the Coronation CHAP. II. A Royal Visitation A Royal Visitation on foot The Visitors The method of this Visitation The Homilies and Erasmus's Paraphrase CHAP. III. Homilies and Erasmus 's Paraphrase The Archbishop to Winchester concerning the Homilies The Archbishop c. compose Homilies Winchester in the Fleet. The Bishop of Winchester's Censure of the Homily of Salvation And of the Archbishop for it Winchester's Censure of Erasmus's Paraphrase His account of his Commitment Erasmus vindicated Winchester's Letter to Somerset concerning these things The Archbishop appoints a Thanksgiving for a Victory The Archbishop to the Bishop of London CHAP. IV. A Convocation A Convocation in the first year of the King Dr. Redman's Judgment of Priests Marriage The Archbishop's Influence on the Parliament The Communion in both kinds established The Archbishop's Queries concerning the Mass. The Archbishop assists at the Funeral of the French King The Marquess of Northampton's Divorce committed to the Archbishop Processions forbid by his means Examines the Offices of the Church CHAP. V. The Archbishop's Catechism The Archbishop puts forth a Catechism And a Book against Vnwritten Verities His Care of Canterbury CHAP. VI. The Archbishop's Care of the University The Archbishop's Influence upon the University Some of S. Iohn's College apply to him upon the apprehension of a danger Offended with some of this College and why The ill condition and low estate of the University An Address of the University to the Archbishop The Sum thereof The Success of the Universities Address to him and others Another Address to him against the Townsmen Roger Ascham's Application to him for a Dispensation for eating flesh Favourably granted by the Archbishop The Archbishop's Opinion concerning Lent Ascham acquaints him with the present state of the University as to their Studies Sir Iohn Cheke the Archbishop's dear Friend The prime Instrument of Politer Studies there The Impediments of that University's flourishing state laid before him CHAP. VII Dr. Smith and others recant Dr. Smith recants at Paul's Cross. His Books Gardiner offended with this Recantation Other University-men recant Smith affronts the Archbishop His inconstancy The Archbishop's Admonition to the Vicar of Stepney The Archbishop licenseth an eminent Preacher Who preacheth against the Errors and Superstitions of the Church Is bound to answer for his Sermon at the Assizes How far the Reformation had proceeded Ridley Consecrated Bishop CHAP. VIII The Churches Goods embezzled New Opinions broached Churches prophaned Church-Ornaments embezzl'd The Council's Letter to the Archbishop thereupon A Form of Prayer sent to the Archbishop With the Council's Letter New Opinions broached Champneys revokes Six Articles and abjures Other Heresies
Nicene Creed The beginning of their Acquaintance The Archbishop propounds a weighty matter to Melancthon for the Union of all Protestant Churches The diligence of the Archbishop in forwarding this Design Mâ—lancthon's Judgment and Approbation thereof His Caveat of avoiding ambiguous expressions Renews the same Caution in another Letter Peter Martyr of this judgment What Melancthon thought of the Doctrine of Fate CHAP. XXV The Archbishop corresponds with Calvin The Archbishop breaks his purpose also to Calvin Calvin's Approbation thereof and Commendation of the Archbishop Offers his Service Excites the Archbishop to proceed This excellent purpose frustrated Thinks of drawing up Articles of Religion for the English Church Which he communicates to Calvin And Calvin's Reply and Exhortation Blames him for having not made more Progress in the Reformation But not justly The Clergy preach against Sacrilege The University-men declaim against it in the Schools And the Redress urged upon some at Court Calvin sends Letters and certain of his Books to the King Well taken by the King and Council What the Archbishop told the Messenger hereupon CHAP. XXVI The Archbishop highly valued Peter Martyr P. Martyr and the Archbishop cordial Friends The use the Archbishop made of him Martyr saw the Voluminous Writings and Marginal Notes of the Archbishop Two Letters of Martyr from Oxford An Instance of his love to the Archbishop CHAP. XXVII The Archbishop's favour to John Sleidan the Historian The Archbishop's favour to Iohn Sleidan Procures him a Pension from the King The Payment neglected Sleidan labours with the Archbishop to get the Pension confirmed by Letters-Patents Sends his Commentaries to the King Designs to write the History of the Council of Trent For the King's use Sends the King a Specimen thereof In order to the proceeding with his Commentaries desires Cecyl to send him the whole Action between K. Henry VIII and Pope Clement VII Bucer writes to Cecyl in behalf of Sleidan Iohn Leland CHAP. XXVIII Archbishop Cranmer 's Relations and Chaplains His Wives and Children His Wife survived him Divers Cranmers The Archbishop's stock Aslacton Whatton The Rectories whereof the Archbishop purchased His Chaplains Rowland Taylor His Epitaph A Sermon preached the day after his Burning Wherein the Martyr is grosly slandered Iohn Ponett Thomas Becon Richard Harman CHAP. XXIX Archbishop Cranmer 's Officers Robert Watson the Archbishop's Steward His Secretary Ralph Morice His Parentage Well known to divers eminent Bishops Presents Turner to Chartham And stands by him in his Troubles for his faithful Preaching An Instance of the Archbishop's Kindness to this his Secrerary Morice his Suit to Q. Elizabeth for a Pension His second Suit to the Queen to confirm certain Lands descended to him from his Father He was Register to the Commissioners in K. Edward's Visitation Suffered under Q. Mary Morice supplied Fox with many material Notices in his Book Morice a Cordial Friend to Latimer CHAP. XXX A Prospect of the Archbishop's Qualities Morice's Declaration concerning the Archbishop His Temperance of Nature His Carriage towards his Enemies Severe in his behaviour towards offending Protestants Stout in God's or the King's Cause His great Abilities in answering the King's Doubts Cranmer studied three parts of the Day Would speak to the King when none else durst Lady Mary Q. Katherine Howard His Hospitality Falsly accused of Ill Housekeeping CHAP. XXXI Archbishop Cranmer preserved the Revenues of his See The preserving the Bishops Revenues owing to the Archbishop The Archbishop vindicated about his Leases By long Leases he saved the Revenues Justified from diminishing the Rents of the See Oâ—ford and Knol Curleswood Chislet Park Pasture and Medow Woods Corn. The best Master towards his Servants An Infamy that he was an Hostler CHAP. XXXII Some Observations upon Archbishop Cranmer Observations upon the Archbishop His Learning very profound His Library An excellent Bishop His Care of his own Diocess At the great Towns he preached often Affected not his high Stiles His diligence in reforming Religion Puts K. Henry upon a purpose of reforming many things The King again purposeth a Reformation Hs Influence upon K. Edward CHAP. XXXIII Archbishop Cranmer procures the use of the Scriptures A great Scripturist Procures the publishing the English Bible The Bishops oppose it The first Edition of the Bible The Preface to the Bible made by the Archbishop The Contents thereof The Frontispiece of Cranmer's Edition of the Bible CHAP. XXXIV Archbishop Cranmer compassionate towards Sufferers for Religion His Affection and Compassion towards Professors of the Gospel Particularly for Sir Iohn Cheke a Prisoner And the Lord Russel A Patron to such as preached the Gospel in K. Henry's days His Succour of Afflicted Strangers in K. Edward's days England harborous of Strangers The Archbishop's favour to Foreigners Unjustly charged with Covetousness His Words to Cecyl upon this Charge Reduced as he feared to stark Beggary before his Death CHAP. XXXV Some account of Archbishop Cranmer'â— Housekeeping Some Account of his Housekeeping Retrenches the Clergy's superfluous House-keeping His Pious Design therein Others charged him with Prodigality CHAP. XXXVI Archbishop Cranmer Humble Peaceable Bold in a good Cause Humble and Condescending Peaceable and Mild. His Speech upon the News of Wars abroad Unacquainted with the Arts of Court-Flattery Would never crouch to Northumberland He and Ridley fall under that Duke's displeasure Bold and undaunted in God's Cause Falsly charged with Cowardice and too much Flexibility Of ardent Affections Cranmâ—r compared with Cardinal Wolsey CHAP. XXXVII Osiander 's and Peter Martyr 's Character of the Archbishop Osiander's Character of the Archbishop And Peter Martyr's Bale's Character of the Archbishop The difficult times wherein Cranmer lived CHAP. XXXVIII The Archbishop vindicated from Slanders of Papists A lying Character of this Archbishop by a late French Author Allen's Calumny of the Archbishop Wiped off Cleared from his Charge of Apostacy Saunders Falshoods of the Archbishop Parsons his Complements to the Archbishop Fox in behalf of Cranmer The Conclusion Errata and Emendations belonging to the Memorials Where the Reader finds this mark * after the Figure denoting the Line he is to tell from the bottom PAge 5. Line 21. for At read All. P. 29. l. 11. r. Imprisoned P. 30 31. in the Margent in three places r. 1534. P. 36. l. 8. after Appendix Note That the Dissolution of S. Swithins in Winchester tho laid here under the year 1535. happened not that year but about five years after viz. 1540. But the occasion of the Discourse there which was of the vast Wealth obtained to the King by the Fall of Religious Houses made the Author produce it in this place as an Instance thereof Ibid. l. 20. * r. Diocesan P. 37. Among the Diocesan Bishops Consecrated under the year 1535 place Hugh Latymer Consecrated Bishop of Worcester and Iohn Hildesly or Hilsey a Friar of the Order of Preachers first of Bristow and afterwards of Oxford Consecrated Bishop of Rochester next after Iohn Fisher Executed for Treason These two
I had omitted in their Places not meeting with them in Cranmer's Register The former I suppose was consecrated with Shaxton in April as the latter might be with Fox and Barlow in September his Temporalties having been restored to him in the beginning of October This Hilsey was a great Assistant to Archbishop Cranmer and a learned man He wrote a Book of Prayers with Epistles and Gospels in English I suppose which he dedicated to the Lord Crumwel by whose command it was published P. 57. l. 17. After Him add But he could not see his Desire effected by these men till it was happily done by other hands P. 75. l. 7. r. Superstitions P. 58. l. 6. * f. Three or four r. Four or five P. 59. l. 14. del Some years after came forth c to thâ— end of the Paragraph P. 77. l. 4. * After Winton Whereas I had said That the Bishop of Winchester was not in a Commission there specified it appears by Crumwel's Speech set down by the Bishop of Sarum that that Bishop was then indeed a Commissioner Here my MS. deceived me But be it noted what the L. Paget testified before the Commissioners at that Bishop's Trial in 1549 namely That because he was so wilful in his opinion and addicted to the Popish part the King left him out of the Commission for Compiling the last Book of Religion And what that Book was I know not unless the Necessary Erudition P. 78. l. 13. * after Hands dele the Period P. 85. l. 21. * Remove thâ— Close of the Parenthesis after That P. 94. l. 8. * r. Translation P. 95. l. 13. after Bulkley insert was Consecrated P. 97. l. 4. * r. Abused P. 104. l. 17. * r. one P. 109. l. 16. r. Archbishop's Endeavour P. 126. l. 13. * After Arms Whereas it was conjectured there that the King changed Archbishop Cranmer's Coat of Arms about 1544 it must have been several years before For his New Coat of the Pelicans may be seen in the Frontispiece of the great English Bible printed 1540. And how long before that time I know not P. 135. l. 16. * r. Church living P. 146. l. 7. * f. Counties r. Episcopal Sees P. 149. l. 25 26. These words When the old Order was broken and a New brought in by Homilies to be within a Parenthesis Ibid. l. 5. * after and add said P. 151. l. 17. dele and. Ibid. after Charge add was P. 153. l. 4. r. Protectors P. 154. l. 17. after them instead of a Period make a Colon. P. 186. l. 16. f. them r. it P. 196. l. 15. * r. Bucer P. 197. l. 4. in the Marg. r. Vit. P. 219. l. 8 9 10 11. dele the Comma's on the sides P. 220 l. 1. r. Augmentations P. 226. l. 4. r. Wreaked P. 234. l. 25. r. Strangers P. 235. l. 7. r. Embark P. 237. l. 12. of the Marg. r. Extent P. 238. l. 14. * dele the Comma's before Leave P. 239. l. 4. r. Strasburgh P. 243. l. 14. r. Glastenbury P. 266. l. 22. r. Superstitious P. 268. l. 5. r. Counsil P. 270. l. 12. * add in the Margent The Sweating Sickness P. 271. l. 12. r. two P. 286. l. 12. f. were r. was P. 306. l. 23. r. other Ibid. l. â—5 dele the Comma P. 307. l. 16. * r. Hand P. 311. l. 14. r. one P. 314. l. 14. * r. Joh. Ibid. l. ult after Humfrey make a Comma P. 315. l. 24. â— r. convince P. 349. l. 19. after all add and. P. 351. l. 11. * r. Conversation P. 352. l. 5. * after it add in P. 354. l. 25. r. Corpus P. 378. l. ult r. but. P. 395. l. 10. f. Contrived r. Composed P. 396. l. 21. del With a Preface P. 394 395 396 397 398 399 400. on the Top of each Margent del An. 1555. P. 411. l. 10. r. was P. 421. l. 21. * after him add be P. 422. l. 1â— f. Flesh r. Fish P. 424. l. 4. * r. one Ibid. l. 3. * f. John r. Thomas P. 425. l. 2. after two add to P. 427. l. 20. after appointed add a. P. 437. l. 9. * f. Historiae r. Historia P. 444 l. 18. * f. 1538 or 1539. r. 1537 or 1538. P. 448. l. 1. f. that r. the. Ibid. l. 9. * r. Sanctuary P. 461. l. 5. f. infringing r. incurring Ibid. l. 28. after about add with P. 464. l. 22. f. is r. was Errata in the Appendix PAge 7. in the Margent for Sir W. S. read Sir W H. P. 8. l. 10. * r. Popes P. 45. l. 9. * r. Controversiam P. 46. l. 13. * r. Oecolampadio Ibid. l. 3. * r. nec P. 55. l. 9. dele the Colon. P. 56. l. 13. r. Concedant Ibid. r. concessit P. 116. l. 18. after Parcyalyte add as P. 131. l. 18. r. Circumcision And so P. 132. l. 21. and l. 29. and l. 31. P. 143. l. 15. * r. praeponenda P. 180. l. 6. * r. Decanatu P. 183. l. 18. after Verbo add a Comma and after Consentientibus dele the Comma l. 19. after Authoritatibus add a Comma P. 188. l. 18. after Liberantes instead of the Period make a Semicolon Ibid. l. 20. after Legati dele the Period P. 190. l. 22. before dam add quibus Ibid. l. 6. * Draw the Comma after Eos before it P. 191. l. 12. r. Procedetur P. 193. l. 10. * r. deterrimo carcere P. 194. l. 13. * f. ita r. ira P. 195. l 17. r. Bernher P. 197. l. 6. * f. quin r. quum P. 199. l. 5. Cognoscentiae perhaps for Ignoscentiae Ibid. l. 11. * r. imbuerat P. 212. l. 3. r. your P. 222. l. 14. Remove the Comma after Abripere before it P. 224. l. 20. * r. punitus P. 232. l. 20. r. habes P. 237. l. 16. * r. angustijs P. 238. l. 17. f. 1552. r. 1553. P. 251. l. 9. r. Appointment MEMORIALS OF Arch-Bishop CRANMER BOOK I. CHAPTER I. Cranmer's Birth Education and Rise THE Name of this most Reverend Prelate deserves to stand upon Eternal Record having been the first Protestant Arch-Bishop of this Kingdom and the greatest Instrument under God of the happy Reformation of this Church of England In whose Piety Learning Wisdom Conduct and Blood the Foundation of it was laid And therefore it will be no unworthy Work to revive his Memory now though after an hundred and thirty Years and upwards I pretend not to write a compleat Narrative of his Life and Death that being scarce possible at such a distance of Time and in the want of full Intelligence and Information of the various Matters that passed through his Hands and the Events that befel him All that I attempt by this present Undertaking is to retrieve and bring to light as many Historical Passages as I can concerning this Holy Prelate by a careful and long search not only into printed Books of History but the best Archives and many most precious and inestimable Manuscripts
Part and Opinion to be on his Part. For being now after some absence returned to Cambridg divers of the University and some of those Doctors that before had given in their Judgments to the King for the Validity of the Pope's Dispensation repaired to him to know his Opinion And after long Reasoning he changed the Minds of Five of the Six Then almost in every Disputation both in Private Houses and in the Common Schools this was one Question Whether the Pope might dispense with the Brother to marry the Brother's Wife after Carnal Knowledg And it was of many openly defended that he might not The Secretary when he came Home acquainted the King with what they had done and how Dr. Cranmer had changed the Minds of Five of the said Learned Men of Cambridg and of many others beside Afterward this University as well as the other determined the King's Cause against the Pope's Dispensation From an Academic our Doctor being now become a Courtier he so prudently demeaned himself that he was not only dear to the Earl of Wiltshire's Family but grew much favoured by the Nobility in general as the Lord Herbert collects from the Historians of those Times and especially by the King himself He was very much about him the King holding frequent Communication with him and seemed unwilling to have him absent Which may appear from hence that when Cranmer was minded for some reason to resort to the Earl of Wiltshire who was then from Hampton-Court and as it seems at London upon some Occasions of his own he doubted whether the King would let him go And so he writ to him that he would come the next Day to him If the King's Grace let him not CHAP. II. Pole's Book about the King's Matrimony ABout this time a Book of Reginald Pole afterwards Cardinal earnestly perswading the King to continue his Marriage with his Queen fell into Dr. Cranmer's Hands I do not find mention of this Book in any Historian that hath come to my Hands No not in his Life published by Bacatellus Bishop of Ragusa though he hath there given us a Catalogue of his Books But in likelihood the Reason was because this was some private Discourse or Letter chiefly intended for the King 's own Use as appears from some words of Cranmer concerning it Viz. That it was writ with that Eloquence that if it were set forth and known to the common People an evidence it was a more private Writing it were not possible to perswade them to the contrary It was penned about the Year 1530 as may be collected from another Passage in the said Writing wherein he mentioneth the King's living in Wedlock with Queen Katherine twenty Years the expiration of which fell in about that Time What induced Pole to write on this Subject is to me uncertain for he avoided as much as could be to meddle in this Affair out of Fear of the King's Displeasure which was the Reason of his departing Abroad Probably it was at the King's Command like as some Years after he commanded him to write his Judgment of the Title of Supream Head which he had lately assumed Which occasioned Pole's four Books of Ecclesiastical Vnity For some about the King had told him it would have a great Influence upon the People especially the Nobility if he could bring Pole over to allow and approve of his Marriage Who was a Person tho then but Young yet highly valued in the Nation for his Piety and Learning and great Descent The Book was soon delivered whether by the Earl of Wiltshire or the King himself unto the Examination and Consideration of Cranmer now the great Court-Divine Who after he had greedily perused it sent the Contents of it in a Letter to his Friend and Patron the Earl being then absent from Court The Book though the Argument of it chiefly depended upon Divinity proceeded more on Political Principles than Divine Take the following account of it as Cranmer gave it in his said Letter First Pole treated of the Danger of Diversity of Titles to the Crown Which might follow if the present Marriage with Queen Katherine were rejected in which there was an Heir and another consummated As appeared by the Titles and Pretensions of the two Houses of Lancaster and York And that the King ought to provide against the Miseries that might be brought upon his Realm by the People if he should reject his Daughter whom they took for his Lawful Heir and should perswade them to take another Then he urged the Danger of incurring the Emperor's Displeasure the Queen being his Aunt and the Princess his Cousin Then he proceeded to consider the Reasons that moved the King to his present Resolutions Namely That God's Law forbad marrying the Brother's Wife And that the People however averse at first besides that it belongâ—d not to them to judg of such Matters would be content in the King's Doings when they should know how the ancient Doctors of the Church and so many great Universities were on the King's Side And that however the Emperor might fall out with the King for this Matter yet God would never fail those that stood on his part and refused to transgress his Commandments and that England might depend on the French King's Aid by virtue of the League which he had entred into with the King and the old Grudg which he bore towards the Emperor Afterwards Pole goes on to review these Reasons And first his Judgment was that Scripture might be brought to justify this Marriage and that there was as good ground of Scripture for that as for the part which the King then took namely the unlawfulness of it That if indeed he thought the King's Part was just and that his Marriage were undoubtedly against God's Pleasure then he could not deny but that it should be well done for the King to refuse it and take another Wife Yet he confessed that for his own part he could not find in his Heart to have any Hand or be any furtherer or abetter in it Acknowledging however that he had no good Reason for it but only out of Affection and Duty to the King's Person Because he would not disannul the Princess his Daughter's Title nor accuse the most part of the King's Life as the Books written on the King's part did As though he had lived in a Matrimony Shameful Abominable Bestial and against Nature This seemed an high Complement of Pole's indeed that he would rather chuse to let the King live and die in an habitual Breach of God's Law than be guilty of something that might argue a want of civil Affection and Duty in him And as concerning the People his Judgment was That neither by Learning nor Preaching would they ever be brought into an ill Conceit of the King 's former Marriage and to think so dishonourably of their King as to live so many Years in Matrimony so abominable But as they had
who had no Authority within this Realm Whereat the King made a Pause and then asked him how he was able to prove it At which time he alledged several Texts out of Scripture and the Fathers proving the Supream Authority of Kings in their own Realms and Dominions and withal shewing the intolerable Usurpations of the Bishops of Rome Of this the King talked several times with him and perceiving that he could not be brought to acknowledg the Pope's Authority the King called one Dr. Oliver an eminent Lawyer and other Civilians and devised â—ith them how he might bestow the Arch-Bishoprick upon him salving his Conscience They said he might do it by way of Protestation and so one to be sent to Rome to take the Oath and do every thing in his Name Cranmer said to this It should be super animam suam and seemed to be satisfied in what the Lawyers told him And accordingly when he was consecrated made his Protestation That he did not admit the Pope's Authority any further than it agreed with the express Word of God And that it might be lawful for him at all times to speak against him and to impugn his Errors when there should be occasion And so he did Whether Warham the Arch-deacon had conceived any Prejudice against our new Arch-Bishop by some warning given him by the former Arch-Bishop as was hinted above or whether he was willing to give place upon Cranmer's Entreaty that he might provide for his Brother so it was that Edmund Cranmer Brother to the Arch-Bishop succeeded Warham in the Arch-deaconry of Canterbury and the Provostship of Wingham Who parted with both these Dignities by Cession And by the Privity and Consent of the Arch-Bishop he had a Stipend or Pension of sixty pounds per Annum allowed him during his Life out of the Arch-deaconary and twenty pounds per Annum out of Wingham by his Successor aforesaid Who continued Arch-deacon until Queen Mary's Days and was then deprived and his Prebend and his Parsonage of Ickham all taken from him in the Year 1554 for being a married Clerk The first was given to Nicholas Harpsfield the second to Robert Collins Bachelour of Law and Commissary of Canterbury and the third to Robert Marsh. The King had before linked him into his great Business about Queen Katharine and the Lady Anne So now when he had nominated him for Arch-Bishop he made him a Party and an Actor in every step almost which he took in that Affair For to fetch the Matter a little backward Not long before the Archiepiscal See was devolved upon Cranmer the King had created the Lady Anne Marchioness of Pembroke and taken her along with him in great State into France when by their mutual Consent there was an Interview appointed between the two Kings At Calais King Henry permitted Francis the French King to take a view of this Lady who then made both Kings a curious and rich Mask where both honoured her by dancing This was in the month of October In the Month before I find a parcel of very rich Jewels were sent from Greenwich to Hampton Court by Mr. Norrys probably he who was Groom of the Stole and executed upon Queen Ann's Business afterwards Which Jewels as some of them might be for the King 's own wearing now he was going into France so in all probability others were either lent or given to the Marchioness to adorn and make her fine when she should appear and give her entertainment to the French King For the sake of such as be curious I have set down in the Appendix a Particular of these most splendid and Royal Jewels from an Original signed with the King 's own Hand in token of his Receit of them Immediately after the King's and â—â—e Marchionesses return from France he married her At which Wedding though very private the Arch-Bishop was one that assisted according to the Lord Herbert but according to the Author of the Britannic Antiquities did the Sacred Office When she was crowned Queen which was Whitsontide following the Arch-Bishop performed the Ceremonies When after that the King had a Daughter by her he would have the Arch-Bishop assist at the Christening and be her Godfather And before this when Queen Katharine was to be divorced from the King and the Pope's Dispensation of that Marriage declared Null our Arch-Bishop pronounced the Sentence and made the Declaration solemnly and publickly at Dunstable Priory Thus the King dipped and engaged Cranmer with himself in all his Proceeding in this Cause Now as all these doings had danger in them so especially this last highly provoked the Pope for doing this without his Leave and Authority as being a presumptuous Encroachment upon his Prerogative Insomuch that a publick Act was made at Rome that unless the King undid all that he had done and restored all things in integrum leaving them to his Decision he would excommunicate him And this Sentence was affixed and set up publickly at Dunkirk Which put the King upon an Appeal from the Pope to the next General Council lawfully called The Arch-Bishop also foreseeing the Pope's Threatning hovering likewise over his Head by the King's Advice made his Appeal by the English Ambassador there I have seen the King's Original Letter to Dr. Bonner ordering him to signify to the Pope in Order and Form of Law his Appeal sending him also the Instrument of his Appeal with the Proxy devised for that purpose This bare date August 18 th from his Castle at Windsor I have reposited it in the Appendix Which Order of the King Bonner did accordingly discharge at an Audience he got of the Pope at Marceilles November 7. And that Letter which the Lord Herbert saith he saw of Bonner to the King wherein he signified as much must be his Answer to this of the King to him Dr. Cranmer having now yielded to the King to accept the Arch-Bishoprick it was in the beginning of the next Year viz. 1533. March 30. and in the 24 th of King Henry that he received his Consecration But that ushered in with abundance of Bulls some dated in February and some in March from Pope Clement to the number of Eleven as may be seen at length in the beginning of this Arch-Bishop's Register The first was to King Henry upon his Nomination of Cranmer to him to be Arch-Bishop The Pope alloweth and promoteth him accordingly The second was a Bull to Cranmer himself signifying the same The third Bull absolved him from any Sentences of Excommunication Suspension Interdiction c. It was written from the Pope to him under the Title of Arch-deacon of Taunton in the Church of Wells and Master in Theology and ran thus Nos ne forsan aliquibus sententiis censuris poenis Ecclesiasticis ligatus sis c. Volentes te a quibusvis excommunicationis suspensionis interdicti aliisque Ecclesiasticis sententiis censuris poenis a jure
vel ab Homine quavis occasâ—â—â—e vel causa latis c. Authoritate praedicta tenore praesentium absolvimus absolutum fore nuntiamus non obstantibus constitutionibus ordinationibus Apostolicis c. One might think that this Bull was drawn up peculiarly for Cranmer's Case Who by reason he might have been suspected as infected with Lutheranism or had meddled too much in the King 's Matrimonial Cause and so intangled in the Churches Censures might have need of such assoiling But I suppose it was but a customary Bull. A fourth Bull was to the Suffragans of Canterbury that is to all the Bishops in the Province signifying Cranmer's Advancement to be their Metropolitan Another to the City and Diocess of Canterbury Another to the Chapter of the said Church Another to the Vassals of the Church that is to all such as held Lands of it Another to the People of the City Another wherewith the Pall was sent to the Arch-Bishop of York and the Bishop of London Another of the Destination of the Pall Which the Bull saith was taken de corpore B. Petri to be presented to him by the Arch-Bishop of York and the Bishop of London or one of them after he had received the Gift of Consecration In this Bull of the Destination is an Order not to use the Pall but on those proper Days which were expresly mentioned in the Privileges of the Church On purpose to beget a greater Esteem and Veneration of this and whatsoever Baubles else came from Rome and brought such Treasure thither The Arch-Bishop according to Custom received these Bulls which the Pope sent him to invest him with the Arch-Bishoprick But he surrendred them up to the King because he would not own the Pope as the giver of this Ecclesiastical Dignity but the King only as he declared at his Trial before Queen Mary's Commissioners at Oxford in the Year 1555. As to the Act of Consecration first They assembled in the Chapter-House of the King's Colledg of S. Stephen near the King's Palace of Westminster Present as Witnesses Watkins the King's Prothonotary Dr. Iohn Tregonwel Thomas Bedyl Clerk of the King's Council Richard Guent Doctor of Decrees of the Court of Canterbury principal Official and Iohn Cocks the Arch-Bishop's Auditor of the Audience and Vicar-general in Spirituals The first thing that was done by the Arch-Bishop Elect was for the satisfaction of his Conscience Who was now before his Consecration to take an Oath of Fidelity to the Pope which will follow by and by This he saw consisted by no means with his Allegiance to his Soveraign And therefore how common and customary soever it were for Bishops to take it yet Cranmer in the first place in the said Chapter-house before the said Witnesses made a Protestation wherein he declared that he intended not by the Oath that he was to take and was customary for Bishops to take to the Pope to bind himself to do any thing contrary to the Laws of God the King's Prerogative or to the Common-wealth and Statutes of the Kingdom nor to tie himself up from speaking his Mind freely in Matters relating to the Reformation of Religion the Government of the Church of England and Prerogative of the Crown And that according to this Interpretation and Meaning only he wâ—â—ld take the Oath and no otherwise This Protestation because I think it is not recorded in our Historians except Mason and in him imperfect I have put it into the Appendix verbatim as I transcribed it out of the Arch-Bishop's Register And having made this Protestation he bad the Prochonotary to make one or more publick Instruments thereof and desired the forementioned Persons to be Witnesses thereunto After this Protestation made he in the presence of these Witnesses being arrayed in Sacerdotal Garments went up to the step of the high Altar to receive Consecration where was sitting in a Chair honourably adorned Iohn Longland the Bishop of Lincoln having on his Pontificals assisted by Iohn Voicy Bishop of Exon and Henry Standish Bishop of S. Asaph holding in his hand a Schedule with the Oath which he was now going to take to the Pope and having withal his Protestation he before the aforesaid Witnesses asserted and protested that he would read the Schedule and perform the Oath therein contained under the said Protestation which he said he made the same day in the Chapter-house before those Witnesses and no otherwise nor in any other manner And then presently after kneeling on his Knees read the Schedule containing the Oath to the Pope Which I have reposited in the Appendix Then the Bishops proceeded to the consecrating of the Arch-Bishop And then again after the solemn Consecration was finished being about to receive his Pall when he was to take another Oath to the Pope he protested again in the presence of the same Witnesses that he took the following Oath under the same Protestation as he made before in the Chapter-house nor would perform it any other ways and then took the Oath And after he had taken it desired the Prothonotary the third time to make a publick Instrument or Instruments thereof Which he did To these Oaths I will add one more which the Arch-Bishop took with a better Stomach to the King for his Temporalties This was for the most part the accustomable Oath of Bishops to the King when they sued for their Temporalties but hardly reconcilable with the Oath they had taken to the Pope Because in this Oath was mentioned a renouncing of all Privileges and Grants of the Pope by virtue of his Bulls that might be prejudicial to the King and an Acknowledgment that they held their Bishopricks only of the King which the Arch-Bishop worded more fully viz. That he held his Archbishoprick of the King immediately and only and of none other I refer the Reader to the Appendix for this Oath One of the first Services the Arch-Bishop did for the King was the pronouncing the Sentence of Divorce from his former Queen Katharine which was done May 23 but drew an implacable hatred upon him from the Pope and Emperor abroad as well as the Papists at home And Queen Mary would not forget it when She came to the Crown taking then her full Revenge upon him though in the same Commission wherein this Sentence was pronounced sat the Bishops of Winton London Bath Lincoln and many other great Clerks And though he pronounced the Sentence he was but the Mouth of the rest and they were all in as deep as he There is a short Account of Arch-Bishop Cranmer's Judgment of the unlawfulness of this Marriage digested under twelve Articles with his own Name writ by himself on the top of the Paper Which Bishop Burnet transcribed from a Cotton Manuscript and inserted into his History It bears this Title Articuli ex quibus plane admodum demonstratur Divortium inter Henricum VIII Angliae Regem Invictissimum
Serenissimam Catharinam necessario esse faciendum The twelfth and concluding Article is this We think that the pretended Matrimony of Henry King of England and Catharine the Queen hath been and is none at all being prohibited both by the Law of God and Nature CHAP. V. The Arch-Bishop visits his Diocess AFter his Sentence against Q. Katharine and confirmation of Q. Ann's Marriage one thing he did which looked as if he was not like to prove any great Friend to a Reformation For he forbad all Preaching throughout his Diocess and warned the rest of the Bishops throughout England to do the same as I have it from an old Journal made by a Monk of St. Augustine's Canterbury But this was only for a time till Orders for Preachers and the Beads could be finished it being thought convenient that Preaching at this Juncture should be restrained because now the Matter of Sermons chiefly consisted in tossing about the King's Marriage with the Lady Anne and condemning so publickly and boldly his doings against Q. Katharine the Priests being set on work by her Friends and Faction In October or November the Arch-bishop went down to Canterbury in order to a Visitation The third day of December the Arch-bishop received the Pontifical Seat in the Monastery of the Holy Trinity And soon after viz. the Ninth of the same Month began to go on Visitation throughout all his Diocess that he might have finished that Work before the Sessions of the Parliament This same Year a remarkable Delusion was discovered in the Arch-bishop's Diocess and even under his Nose the Scene being chiefly laid in Canterbury by some belonging to the Cathedral Church For a certain Nun called Elizabeth Barton by marvellous Hypocrisy mocked all Kent and almost all England For which Cause she was put in Prison in London Where she confessed many horrible things against the King and the Queen This forenamed Elizabeth had many Adherents but especially Dr. Bocking Monk of Christ's-Church in Canterbury who was her chief Author in her Dissimulation All of them at the last were accused of Treason Heresy and Conspiracy And so stood in Penance before the open Cross of S. Paul's in London and in Canterbury in the Church-yard of the Monastery of the Holy Trinity at the Sermon time they stood over the high Seat where of the Preacher they were grievously rebuked for their horrible Fact And in April the next Year she with Bocking and Dering another Monk of Canterbury were led out of Prison through all the Streets of London unto Tyburn where she and these Monks and also two Brothers of the Minors suffered with the rest upon the Gallows for Treason and Heresy In the Month of November the Arch-bishop sent a Letter to Bonner the King's Ambassador at Marseilles together with his Appeal from the Pope to be there signified as was hinted before The reason whereof was this Upon the King's Divorce from Q. Katharine the Pope had by a publick Instrument declared the Divorce to be null and void and threatned him with Excommunication unless he would revoke all that he had done Gardiner Bishop of Winton about this time and upon this occasion was sent Ambassador to the French King and Bonner soon after followed him to Marseilles Where Gardiner at the interview between the French King and the Pope now was For the King and the Council apprehended some Mischief to be hatching against the Kingdom by the Pope who was now inciting the Emperor and other Princes to make War upon us And indeed he had vaunted as the Ld Herbert declares that he would set all Christendom against the King And the Emperor in discourse had averred that by the means of Scotland he would avenge his Aunt 's Quarrel The Arch-bishop in this Juncture had secret intimation of a Design to excommunicate him and interdict his Church Whereupon as the King by Bonner Novemb 7 had made his Appeal from the Pope to the next General Council lawfully called so by the King and Council's Advice the Arch-bishop soon after did the same sending his Appeal with his Proxy under his Seal to Bonner desiring him together with Gardiner to consult together and to intimate his Appeal in the best manner they could think expedient for him And this Letter he wrote by the King 's own Commandment It was not the Hand of the Arch-bishop nor of his Secretary So I suppose it was drawn up by some of his own Lawyers and is as followeth In my right hearty manner I commend me to you So it is as you know right well I stand in dread lest our Holy Father the Pope do intend to make some manner of prejudicial Process against me and my Church And therefore having probable Conjectures thereof I have appeal'd from his Holiness to the General Council accordingly as his Highness and his Council have advised me to do Which my Appeal and Procuracie under my Seal I do send unto you herewith desiring you right-heartily to have me commended to my Ld of Winchester and with his Advice and Counsel to intimate the said Provocation after the best manner that his Lordship and you shall think most expedient for me I am the bolder thus to write unto you because the King's Highness commandeth me this to do as you shall I trust further perceive by his Grace's Letter Nothing doubting in your Goodness but at this mine own desire you will be contented to take this Pains though his Highness shall percase forget to write unto you therein Which your Pains and Kindness if it shall lie in me in time to come to recompense I wol not forget it with God's Grace Who preserve you as my self From Lambeth the xxvii th day of November Thomas Cantuar. Cranmer being now placed at the Head of the Church of England next under God and the King and the chief care of it devolved upon him his great study was conscientiously to discharge this high Vocation And one of the first things wherein he shewed his good Service to the Church was done in the Parliament in the latter end of this Year 1533. When the Supremacy came under debate and the usurped Power of the Bishop of Rome was propounded then the old Collections of the new Arch-bishop did him good service for the chief and in a manner the whole burden of this weighty Cause was laid upon his Shoulders Insomuch that he was forced to answer to all that ever the whole Rabble of the Papists could say for the defence of the Pope's Supremacy And he answered so plainly directly and truly to all their Arguments and proved so evidently and stoutly both by the Word of God and Consent of the Primitive Church that this usurped Power of the Pope is a meer Tyranny and directly against the Law of God and that the Power of Emperors and Kings is the highest Power here upon Earth Unto which Bishops Priests Popes and Cardinals ought to submit
given unto his preaching for time to come And he left his Majesty to hear the Testimony of Dr. Leighton one of the King's Visitors who was present at the Sermon the Arch-bishop then made This Letter the Contents whereof I have now set down I have placed in the Appendix as well worthy the preserving among the rest of the Monuments of this Arch-bishop as I transcribed it out of the Cotton Library I do not find what Issue this Business had but I suspect the Black Friars of Canterbury had a black Mark set upon them by the King for this Opposition of his Arch-bishop in the discharge of his Commands But to speak a little of a Provincial Visitation Iure Metropolitico which the Arch-bishop had begun the last Year viz. 1534 being his first Visitation It was somewhat extraordinary for such a Visitation had not been in an hundred Years before For this he got the King's Licence to countenance his doings knowing what oppositions he should meet with In the Month of May we find him at his House at Otford about this Business The main End whereof was to promote the King's Supremacy and as opportunity served to correct the Superstitions of this Church and to inspect even Bishops and Cathedrals themselves In Apr. 1535 Cranmer had sent his Monition to Steph. Gardiner Bishop of Winchester that he would visit his Diocess The Bishop who never loved the Arch-bishop and being a great upholder of the old Popish Superstitions was the more jealous of this Visitation opposing himself as much as he could against it and would have picked an Hole in Cranmer's Coat for stiling himself in the Instrument of the Process Totius Angliae Primas as though this had been an high Reflection upon the King and detracted much from his Supremacy Of this therefore he went and made a Complaint to the King himself and taking it in some Indignation that the Arch-bishop should visit his Diocess he pretended to the King that the Clergy of his Diocess would be driven to great streights and mightily oppress'd if it should be now visited again having been visited but five Years ago by his Predecessor Warham especially being also to pay a new Duty enjoined by the Parliament namely their Tenths hoping hereby to evade the Arch-bishop's inspection into the Corruptions of the Diocess of Winchester All this Crumwel his Friend certified him of by his Chaplain one Champion Winchester indeed whatsoever he pretended tendred not so much the King's Cause as his own that he might not be visited For otherwise he would have complained to the King of this Matter before Cranmer's signification to him of a Visitation since he always bare the Title of Primate of all England as being the common Stile of the Arch-bishop And if this Stile of Primacy was a diminution to the King it would have been so to the Pope when Winchester held him as he did once for Supream Head of the Church but then he never made any complaint against those Arch-bishops that stiled themselves Primats The Pope's Supream Authority was not less thought of because he had such Primates under him but rather more And the King might therefore have such as were Primates under him without any derogation to his Authority Nor did Cranmer value at all Names and Titles and if he thought it any thing interfering with the King's Honour he would himself have been the first to sue for the taking it wholly away This he signified in a Letter to Secretary Crumwel which because it hath many excellent things declarative of the good Temper and Spirit of Cranmer I have presented it to the Reader 's Eye in the Appendix being an Original in the Cotton Library And as Winchester had pick'd a Quarrel with him for one part of his Archiepiscopal Stile so Stokesly Bishop of London a Man of the same inveterate Temper against Cranmer refused his Visitation because he stiled himself in his Monitions Apostolicae Sedis Legatus For under that Title he Convented that Bishop with the Abbots Priors and Arch-deacon of London to appear before him at a Visitation which he intended to hold at the Chapter-house in St. Paul's Church London But the Bishop of London and the Chapter warned him of assuming that Title as making against the King's Prerogative And at the Visitation it self in S. Paul's they made a Protestation which was openly read The import whereof was that they would not accept him as such a Legate and neither admit nor submit to his Visitation under that Name and required the Arch-bishop's Register to enter their Protestation And upon his refusal thereof delivered a Certificate of what they had done Stokesly also contended with him for suspending all the Jurisdiction of the Bishop Dean and Arch-deacon during his Visitation To which the Arch-bishop answered it was no more than his Predecessors had usually done in those Cases In fine they appealed in their own justification unto the King and desired his Licence to defend themselves against him by the Laws and as the Parliament had provided Thus they shewed before their secret Malice and violent Opposition against the good Arch-bishop and how afraid they were of his Visitation glad to catch any thing to enervate his Authority The sum of which Appeal drawn up by Stokesly being somewhat too long to be subjoined here may be read in the Appendix Finally upon the Arch-bishop's visiting of his Diocess he entred three Protestations against it as may appear in Stokesley's Register for preserving his Privileges This Man ever carried himself perversely to the Arch-bishop It was not long after this time that the Arch-bishop whose Mind ran very much upon bringing in the free use of the Holy Scripture in English among the People put on vigorously a Translation of it And that it might not come to be prohibited as it had been upon pretence of the Ignorance or Unfaithfulness of the Translators he proceeded in this method First He began with the Translation of the New Testament taking an old English Translation thereof which he divided into nine or ten Parts causing each Part to be written at large in a paper Book and then to be sent to the best Learned Bishops and others to the intent they should make a perfect Correction thereof And when they had done he required them to send back their Parts so corrected unto him at Lambeth by a day limited for that purpose and the same course no question he took with the Old Testament It chanced that the Acts of the Apostles were sent to Bishop Stokesly to oversee and correct When the Day came every Man had sent to Lambeth their Parts corrected only Stokeslye's Portion was wanting My Lord of Canterbury wrote to the Bishop a Letter for his Part requiring him to deliver them unto the Bringer his Secretary He received the Arch-bishop's Letter at Fulham Unto which he made this Answer I marvel what my Lord of
their own Houses where they received Causes Complaints and Appeals and had learned Civilians living with them that were Auditors of the said Causes before the Arch-bishop gave Sentence pretending that he held it as the Pope's Legat Urging also the great Troubles and Inconveniences it caused both to the Clergy and the Laity and that every Man must by virtue of that Court be forced up to London from the farthest part of the Land for a slanderous Word or a Trifle And that they thought it convenient if it were the King's Pleasure to continue that Court that he would settle it upon some other and not upon the Arch-bishop that so it might appear the Original of that Court was from the King and not from the Pope And lastly that it would not be safe to constitute the Arch-bishop the Pope's Legat because it would infringe the Power of the Vicar-General This was drawn up in way of Petition and Complaint either to the King or Parliament by a Combination of some of the Convocation as I suspect the Paper being writ by the Hand of the Register of the Lower House of Convocation The great Wheel we may be sure that set a moving this Device was Winchester his never-failing Adversary The King notwithstanding bad the Arch-bishop maintain his Court. And he answered all their Pleas against it and by way of Protestation affirmed that he kept not his Court by virtue of his Bull from Rome for Legat and that none could suspect that he did And that he saw no Cause but that he might keep that Court by virtue of the late Act of Parliament that gave Power to enjoy all things that were before had from the See of Rome And finally he answered that it was the King's Will and Command that he should continue his Court. To which the Convocation or rather some part of it made a Reply that may be seen in the Appendix But notwithstanding these Discouragements which were thrown in probably to hinder his good Designs the Arch-bishop vigorously prosecuted a Reformation at this Convocation Where assisted by Crumwel the King's Vicar General he earnestly laboured for the redress of several Abuses and Errors in the English Church And that not without good Success at length For after much deliberation among the Clergy there assembled and much opposition too he got a Book of divers good Articles to that purpose to be agreed upon and subscribed An account of which by and by shall follow CHAP. XI Articles of Religion NOW though I do not find the King went so far as that it should be enjoined on all the Clergy to own the Articles of this Book by their own Hands subscribed yet he published and recommended them to all his loving Subjects in general to accept and repute them to be agreeable to God's Laws and proper for the establishment of Peace and Concord And further probably in prudence the King thought not fit yet to go considering the great Disputes and Arguments that had happened in the Convocation hereupon Now because this was one of the great Services our pious Prelate contributed to the Church and was one of the first Steps made in the Reformation of the Doctrine and Worship it will not be amiss here in order to the inlightning this History to set down the Heads of this Book though it be done by others before me And notwithstanding what the Noble Author of the History of Henry VIII saith he gathered by some Records that this Book was devised by the King himself and recommended afterwards to the Convocation by Crumwel yet we have reason to attribute a great share therein to the Arch-bishop They that are minded to see a Draught of these Articles from the Original with the Royal Assent prefixed to them may have it in Dr. Fuller's Church-History Which he tells us he transcribed out of the Acts of the Convocation The Bishop of Sarum also met with an Original of them in the Cotton Library wrote out fairly as it seems for the King 's own Use and subscribed with all the Hands of the Convocation thereunto He also hath inserted the Transcript of them in the first part of his History of the Reformation In the Rebellion in the North which happened this Year 1536 chiefly raised by Priests and Friars many Copies of these Articles for the Book was printed by Barthelet did Crumwel send by the King's Order to the Duke of Norfolk the King's Lieutenant there to disperse in those Parts together with the Original Copy it self as it was signed by the Hands of the Convocation amounting to the number of 116 Bishops Abbots Priors Arch-deacons and Proctors of the Clergy Which the said Duke had order to shew unto the Clergy and others as occasion served that they might understand it was a proper Act of the Church and no Innovation of the King and a few of his Counsellors as they gave out And after he had made his use of this Original he was required to reserve it safe for the King This choice Treasure which the King himself required such care to be taken of Sir Robert Cotton afterwards procured at his no small Expence no doubt It is very fairly written in Vellam and at the bottom of the first Page is written Robertus Cotton Bruceus by Sir Robert's own Hand signifying his Value of this Monument It is still extant in that incomparable Library in the Volume Cleopatra E. 5. And there I have seen it and diligently compared it Excuse this Digression and I now proceed to the Articles themselves These Articles were of two sorts some concerning Faith and some concerning Ceremonies The former sort were digested under these five Titles following I. The Principal Articles of Faith And they were these That all those things that be comprehended in the whole Body and Canon of the Bible and in the three Creeds are true and constantly to be believed That we take and hold the same for the most holy and infallible Words of God That the Articles of the Faith contained in the Creeds are necessary to be believed for Man's Salvation That the same words be kept in which the Articles of Faith are conceived That all Opinions contrary to the Articles and which were condemned in the four first Councils are to be utterly refused II. The Sacrament of Baptism That it was instituted and ordained by Iesus Christ as necessary to Everlasting Life That by it all as well Infants as such as have the use of Reason have Remission of Sins and the Grace and Favour of God offered them That Infants and Innocents must be Baptized because the Promise of Grace and Everlasting Life pertains as well to them as to those who have the use of Reason And that therefore Baptized Infants shall undoubtedly be saved That they are to be Baptized because of Original Sin which is remitted only by Baptism That they that are once Baptized must not be
their Pain But because the Place where they be the Name thereof and kinds of Pain there is to us uncertain by Scripture therefore we remit this with all other things to Almighty God unto whose Mercies it is meet to commend them That such Abuses be put away which under the Name of Purgatory have been advanced As to make Men believe that through the Bishop of Rome's Pardons Souls might clearly be delivered out of Purgatory and the Pains of it or that Masses said at Scala Coeli or otherwise in any Place or before any Image might deliver them from all their Pains and send them streight to Heaven These are the Contents of that memorable Book of Articles There are Reasons added now and then to confirm the respective Tenets there laid down and many Quotations of Holy Scripture which for brevity sake I have omitted Which one may conjecture to have been inserted by the Pen of the Arch-bishop Who was the great Introducer of this Practice of proving or confuting Opinions in Religion by the Word of God instead of the ordinary Custom then used of doing it by School-men and Popish Canons We find indeed many Popish Errors here mixed with Evangelical Truths Which must either be attributed to the Defectiveness of our Prelate's Knowledg as yet in True Religion or being the Principles and Opinions of the King or both Let not any be offended herewith but let him rather take notice what a great deal of Gospel-Doctrine here came to light and not only so but was owned and propounded by Authority to be believed and practised The Sun of Truth was now but rising and breaking through the thick Mists of that Idolatry Superstition and Ignorance that had so long prevailed in this Nation and the rest of the World and was not yet advanced to its Meridian Brightness CHAP. XII Cranmer's Iudgment about some Cases of Matrimony IN this Year then came forth two remarkable Books whereof both the King and the Arch-bishop and Bishops might be said to be joint Composers In as much as they seemed to be devised by the Arch-bishop and some of the Bishops and then Revised Noted Corrected and Enlarged by the King The one of these was the Book of Articles of Religion mentioned before This Book bore this Title Articles devised by the King's Highness to stable Christian Quietness and Vnity among the People c. With a Preface by the King Where the King saith he was constrained to put his own Pen to the Book and to conceive certain Articles Which words I leave to the Conjecture of the Reader whether by them he be enclined to think that the King were the first Writer of them or that being writ and composed by another they were perused considered corrected and augmented by his Pen. The other Book that came out this Year was occasioned by a Piece published by Reginald Pole intituled De Vnione Ecclesiastica Which inveighing much against the King for assuming the Supremacy and extolling the Pope unmeasurably he employed the Arch-bishop and some other Bishops to compile a Treatise shewing the Usurpations of Popes and how late it was e're they took this Superiority upon them some hundred Years passing before they did it And that all Bishops were limited to their own Diocesses by one of the eight Councils to which every Pope did swear And how the Papal Authority was first derived from the Emperor and not from Christ. For this there were good Arguments taken from the Scriptures and the Fathers The Book was signed by both the Arch-bishops and nineteen other Bishops It was called the Bishops Book because devised by them The Lord Crumwel did use to consult with the Arch-bishop in all his Ecclesiastical Matters And there happened now while the Arch-bishop was at Ford a great Case of Marriage Whom it concerned I cannot tell but the King was desirous to be resolved about it by the Arch-bishop and commanded Crumwel to send to him for his Judgment therein The Case was three-fold I. Whether Marriage contracted or solemnized in Lawful Age per Verba de presenti and without carnal Copulation be Matrimony before God or no II. Whether such Matrimony be consummate or no And III. What the Woman may thereupon demand by the Law Civil after the death of her Husband This I suppose was a cause that lay before the King and his Ecclesiastical Vicegerent to make some determination of And I suspect it might relate to Katharine his late divorced Queen The Arch-bishop who was a very good Civilian as well as a Divine but that loved to be wary and modest in all his Decisions made these Answers That as to the first he and his Authors were of Opinion that Matrimony contracted per Verba de presenti was perfect Matrimony before God 2. That such Matrimony is not utterly consummated as that term is commonly used among the School-Divines and Lawyers but by carnal Copulation 3. As to the Woman's Demands by the Law Civil he therein professed his Ignorance And he had no learned Men with him there at Ford to consult with for their Judgments only Dr. Barbar a Civilian that he always retained with him who neither could pronounce his Mind without his Books and some learned Men to confer with upon the Case But he added that he marvelled that the Votes of the Civil Lawyer should be required herein seeing that all manner of Causes of Dower be judged within this Realm by the Common Laws of the same And that there were plenty of well-learned Men in the Civil Law at London that undoubtedly could certify the King's Majesty of the Truth herein as much as appertained unto that Law warily declining to make any positive Judgment in a Matter so ticklish This happened in the month of Ianuary And indeed in these Times there were great Irregularities about Marriage in the Realm many being incestuous and unlawful Which caused the Parliament two or three Years past viz 1533. in one of their Acts to publish a Table of Degrees wherein it was prohibited by God's Law to marry But the Act did not cure this Evil many thought to bear out themselves in their illegal Contracts by getting Dispensations from the Arch-bishop which created him much trouble by his denying to grant them There was one Massy a Courtier who had contracted himself to his deceased Wife's Niece Which needing a Dispensation the Party got the Lord Crumwel to write to the Arch-bishop in his behalf especially because it was thought to be none of the Cases of Prohibition contained in the Act. But such was the Integrity of the Arch-bishop that he refused to do any thing he thought not allowable though it were upon the perswasion of the greatest Men or the best Friends he had But he writ this civil Letter to the Lord Crumwel upon this occasion MY very singular good Lord in my most hearty-wise I commend me unto your Lordship And whereas your
Rochester by virtue of the Arch-bishop's Letters Commissional to him assisted by Robert Bishop of S. Asaph and Thomas Bishop of Sidon This More held the Monastery of Walden in Essex an House of Benedictines in Commendam where Audley-end now stands and surrendred it to the King 1539. CHAP. XIII The Bishops Book THE pious ABp thought it highly conducible to the Christian Growth of the common People in Knowledg and Religion and to disintangle them from gross Ignorance and Superstition in which they had been nursled up by their Popish Guides that the Ten Commandments the Lord's Prayer and the Creed and the Grounds of Religion should be explained soundly and orthodoxly and recommended unto their reading Wherefore he consulting with the Lord Crumwel his constant Associate and Assistant in such Matters and by his and other his Friends importuning the King a Commission was issued out from him in the Year 1537. to the Arch-bishop to Stokesly Bishop of London Gardiner of Winchester Sampson of Chichester Repps of Norwich Goodrick of Ely Latimer of Worcester Shaxton of Salisbury Fox of Hereford Barlow of S. Davids and other Bishops and Learned Divines to meet together and to devise an wholsome and plain Exposition upon those Subjects and to set forth a Truth of Religion purged of Errors and Heresies Accordingly they met at the Arch-bishop's House at Lambeth Their Course was that after they had drawn up their Expositions upon each Head and agreed thereto they all subscribed their Hands declaring their Consent and Approbation In the Disputations which happened among them in this Work Winchester the Pope's chief Champion with three or four other of the Bishops went about with all subtil Sophistry to maintain all Idolatry Heresy and Superstition written in the Canon Law or used in the Church under the Pope's Tyranny But at the last whether overpower'd with Number or convinced by the Word of God and consent of Ancient Authors and the Primitive Church they all agreed upon and set their Hands to a Godly Book of Religion Which they finished by the end of Iuly and staid for nothing but the Vicar-General's Order whether to send it immediately to him or that the Bishop of Hereford should bring it with him at his next coming to the Court But the Plague now raging in Lambeth and People dying even at the Palace-Doors the Arch-bishop desired Crumwel for the King's Licence to the Bishops to depart for their own Safety their Business being now in effect drawn to a Conclusion Soon after the Bishops and Divines parted and the Arch-bishop hastened to his House at Ford near Canterbury The Book was delivered by Crumwel to the King which he at his leisure diligently perused corrected and augmented And then after five or six Months assigned Crumwel to dispatch it unto the Arch-bishop that he might give his Judgment upon the King's Animadversions A Pursevant brought it to Ford. The Arch-bishop advisedly read and considered what the King had writ and disliking some things made his own Annotations upon some of the Royal Corrections there especially we may well imagine where the King had altered the Book in favour of some of the old Doctrines and Corruptions And when he sent it back again with those Annotations he wrote these Lines to Crumwel therewith on the 25 th day of Ianuary MY very singular good Lord After most hearty Commendations unto your Lordship these shall be to advertise the same That as concerning the Book lately devised by me and other Bishops of this Realm which you sent unto me corrected by the King's Highness your Lordship shall receive the same again by this Bearer the Pursevant with certain Annotations of mine own concerning the same Wherein I trust the King's Highness will pardon my Presumption that I have been so scrupulous and as it were a picker of Quarrels to his Grace's Book making a great Matter of every little Fault or rather where no Fault is at all Which I do only for this Intent that because now the Book shall be set forth by his Grace's Censure and Judgment I would have nothing therein that Momus could reprehend And I refer all mine Annotations again to his Grace's most exact Judgment And I have ordered my Annotations so by Numbers that his Grace may readily turn to every place And in the lower Margin of this Book next to the Binding he may find the Numbers which shall direct him to the Words whereupon I make the Annotations And all those his Grace's Castigations which I have made none Annotations upon I like them very well And in divers places I have made Annotations which places nevertheless I mislike not as shall appear by the same Annotations At length this Book came forth printed by Barthelet in the Year 1537 and was commonly called the Bishops Book because the Bishops were the Composers of it It was intituled The godly and pious Institution of a Christian Man and consisted of a Declaration of the Lord's Prayer and of the Ave Mary the Creed the Ten Commandments and the Seven Sacraments It was Established by Act of Parliament having been signed by the two Arch-bishops nineteen Bishops eight Arch-deacons and seventeen Doctors of Divinity and Law The Opinion that the Favourers of the Gospel had of this Book in those Times may appear by what I find in a Manuscript of the Life of this Arch-bishop by an unknown Author that wrote it soon after the said Arch-bishop's Death A godly Book of Religion not much unlike the Book set forth by K. Edward VI. except in two Points The one was the real Preâ—ence of Christ's Body in the Sacrament of the Altar Of the which Opinion the Arch-bishop was at that time and the most part of the other Bishops and learned Men. The other Error was of Praying Kissing and Kneeling before Images Which saith he was added by the King after the Bishops had set their Hands to the contrary But this Book came forth again two Years after viz. 1540. unless my Manuscript mistake this Year for 1543. very much enlarged and reduced into another Form and bearing another Name A necessary Doctrine and Erudition of any Christian Man And because the King had put it forth by his own Authority it was called now The King's Book as before it was called The Bishops But that none might be confounded in these Books he may know that there was in the Year 1536 another Book also called The Bishops Book upon the same reason that this was so called because the Arch-bishops and Bishops had the making thereof It was a Declaration against the Papal Supremacy written upon occasion of Pole's Book of Ecclesiastical Vnion mentioned before And in the Year 1533 there came forth another Book in Latin called The King's Book intituled The Difference between the Kingly and Ecclesiastical Power reported to be made as Bale writes by Fox the King's Almoner Which was translated into English
and put forth by Henry Lord Stafford in King Edward's Days The King affecting to be thought Learned affected also to have Books called by his Name not that he was always the Author of them but that they came out by his Authority and had undergone his Corrections and Emendations But before we pass away from hence it may be convenient to give the Reader a little taste of so famous a Treatise as that Bishop's Book was in those Days And I will do it not in my own words but in the words of a very Learned and Eminent Man the Answerer to Dr. Martin's Book against Priests Marriage not far from the beginning of Q Mary supposed to be Ponet Bishop of Winchester then in Exile Applying himself in his Preface unto the Queen's Prelats he told them That in their Book intituled The Institution of a Christian Man presented by their whole Authorities to the King of famous Memory K. Henry VIII In the Preface thereof they affirmed to his Highness with one assent by all their Learnings that the said Treatise was in all Points concordant and agreeable to Holy Scripture yea such Doctrine that they would and desired to have it taught by all the Spiritual Pastors to all the King 's loving Subjects to be Doctrine of Faith And there intreating of the Sacrament of Orders they desired to have it taught that we be in no subjection to the Bishop of Rome and his Statutes but meerly subject to the King's Laws under his only Territory and Jurisdiction And that the Canons and Rules of the Church were therefore allowable in the Realm because the Assent of the King and of the People accepted the same And that Priests and Bishops whatsoever never had any Authority by the Gospel in Matters Civil and Moral but by the Grant and Gift of Princes and that it was alway and ever shall be lawful unto Kings and Princes and to their Successors with the Consent of their Parliaments to revoke and call again into their own Hands or otherwise to restrain all their Power and Jurisdiction given and permitted by their Authority Assent or Sufferance c. Without the which if the Bishop of Rome or any other Bishop whatsoever should take upon them any Authority or Jurisdiction in such Matters as be Civil No doubt said they that Bishop is not worthy to be called a Bishop but rather a Tyrant and an Usurper of other Mens Rights contrary to the Laws of God and is to be reputed a Subverter of the Kingdom of Christ. Yea besides these things and many other as he added they put in our Creed or Belief as an Article of Salvation or Damnation that the Church of England is as well to be named a Catholick and Apostolick Church as Rome Church or any other Church where the Apostles were resident And that they willed us to believe in our Faith that there is no difference in Superiority Preeminence or Authority one over the other but be all of equal Power and Dignity and that all Churches be free from the Subjection and Jurisdiction of the Church of Rome And that no Church is to be called Schismatical as varying from the Unity of the Church of Christ if it persist in the Unity of Christ's Faith Hope and Charity and Unity of Christ's Doctrine and Sacraments agreeable to the same Doctrine And that it appertained to Christen Kings and Princes in the discharge of their Duty to God to reform and reduce again the Laws to their old Limits and pristine State of their Power and Jurisdiction which was given them by Christ and used in the Primitive Church For it is say they out of all doubt that Christ's Faith was then most firm and pure and the Scriptures of God were then best understood and Vertue did then most abound and excel And therefore the Customs and Ordinances then used and made must needs be more conform and agreeable unto the true Doctrine of Christ and more conducing to the edifying and benefit of the Church of Christ than any Custom or Laws used or made since that Time This he collected out of their Exposition of the Sacrament of Orders The said Learned Author observed that this Doctrine was set forth by the whole Authority of the Bishops in those Days presented by the Subscription of all their Names And since the time of their presenting thereof by the space almost of twenty Years that is to the middle of Queen Mary never revoked but continually from time to time taught by this Book and by such other Declarations And that one more Particular relating to this Book may be known namely who the Bishops and other Divines were that composed it and that were commissioned so to do I shall record their Names as they were found writ by the Hand of Dr. Sam. Ward in his own Book now in the possession of N. B. a Reverend Friend of mine who hath well deserved of this History Thomas Cant. Io. Lond. Steph. Winton Io. Exon. Io. Lincoln Io. Bathon Roland Coven Litch Tho. Elien Nic. Sarum Io. Bang Edward Heref. Hugo Wigorn. Io. Roffen Ric. Cicestr Guilielm Norv Guilielm Menevens Rob. Assav Rob. Landav Edoard Ebor. Cuthb Dunelm Rob. Carliolen Richard Wolman Archidiac Sudbur Guil. Knight Archid. Richmon Io. Bell Archid. Gloc. Edmund Bonner Archid. Leicestr Iohn Skip Archid. Dorset Nic. Hethe Archid. Stafford Cuthb Marshal Archid. Nottingham Rich. Curren Archid. Oxon. Gulielm Cliff Galfridus Downes Robertus Oking Radul Bradford Richardus Smith Simon Matthew Ioannes Pryn Guliel Buckmaster Guliel May Nic. Wotton Ric. Coxe Ioannes Edmunds Thomas Robertson Ioannes Baker Thomas Barret Ioannes Hase Ioannes Tyson Sacrae Theologiae Juris Ecclesiastici Civilis Professores In the Year 1543. The same Book was printed again amended much both in Sense and Language yet not having any step in the Progress of the Reformation more than the former each Edition express positively the Corporal Presence in the Sacrament But in this is much added about Free-Will which it asserts and Good Works In 1544 the same was printed again at London in Latin intituled Pia Catholica Christiani Hominis Institutio CHAP. XIV The Arch-bishop visits his Diocess AS soon as this Business was over with the Arch-bishop and Bishops at Lambeth no Parliament sitting this Year and a Plague being in London and Westminster he went down as was said before into his Diocess But before he went he expressed a great desire to wait upon the King being then I suppose at Hampton-Court or Windsor but he feared he should not be permitted coming out of the smoaky Air as he wrote to the Lord Crumwel in that time of Infection Yet he desired to know the King's Pleasure by him He had a mind indeed to leave some good Impressions upon the King's Mind in the behalf of the Book that he and the rest had taken such Pains about and but newly made an end of But whether he saw the King now or no
he had his Commission and took it down with him Which he advisedly did the better to warrant and bear him out in what he intended to do in his Diocess which he purposed to visit This was a Year of Visitation For there was a new Visitation now again appointed throughout all England to see how the People stood affected to the King to discover Cheats and Impostures either in Images Relicks or such like The Arch-bishop also thinking good now to visit his Diocess procured the Licence of the Vice-Gerent Lord Crumwel so to do Because I suppose all other Visitations were to cease to give way to the King's Visitation And to render his Power of Visiting the more unquestionable and void of scruple he desired the Vice-gerent that in drawing up of his Commission his Licence to visit might be put into it by Dr. Peter who was then if I mistake not Master of the Faculties to the said Vice-gerent and afterwards Secretary of State And because he would not do any thing without the Counsel and Allowance of the Vice-gerent he asked his Advice how he should order in his Visitation such Persons as had transgressed the King's Injunctions Which came out the Year before under Crumwel's Name Whereof some were for the restraint of the Number of Holy Days a great cause of Superstition and of the continuance of it And afterwards other Injunctions came out whereof the first was that in all Parishes once every Sunday for a quarter of a Year together the Supremacy should be taught and the Laws to that intent read These Injunctions were in number Eleven as they are set down in the Lord Herbert's History The Vicar of Croydon under the ABp's Nose had been guilty of certain Misdemeanors Which I suppose were speaking or preaching to the disparagement of the King's Supremacy and in favour of the Pope Now before he went into the Countrey and having as yet divers Bishops and Learned Men with him at Lambeth he thought it advisable to call this Man before them at this time But before he would do it he thought it best to consult with Crumwel and take his Advice whether he should now do it and before these Bishops or not So ticklish a thing then was it for the Bishops to do any things of themselves without the privity and order of this great Vice-gerent Cranmer was aware of it and therefore required Direction from him in every thing But whatsoever was done with this Vicar the Arch-bishop was soon down in his Diocess and having taken an Account of the People and Clergy what Conformity they bare to the King's Laws and Injunctions he found them superstitiously set upon the observation of their old Holy Days Some whereof he punished and others he admonished according to the degree of their Crimes And he discovered the chief Cause to lie in the Curates and Priests who did animatâ— the People to what they did indeed their Interest and Gain was concerned The great inconvenience of these Holy Days lay partly in the numerousness of them so that the attendance upon them hindred dispatching and doing Justice in Westminster-hall in the Terms and the gathering in Harvest in the Countrey partly in the Superstitions that these Holy Days maintained in the idolatrous Worship of supposed Saints and partly in the Riot Debauchery and Drunkenness that these Times were celebrated with among the common People and lastly the Poverty it brought upon the meaner sort being detained from going about their ordinary Labours and Callings to provide for themselves and Families For the prevention of these Superstitions for the Future and to make the People more obedient to the King's Laws he gave out strict Orders to all Parsons of Parishes upon pain of Deprivation that they should cause the abrogated Holy Days not to be observed for the future and to present to the Arch-bishop all Persons in their respective Parishes as should do contrary to any of the King's Ordinances already set forth or that should be hereafter by his Authority relating to the Doctrine and Ceremonies of the Church And this course he conceived so good an Expedient that he counselled the Lord Vice-gerent that all Bishops in their several Diocesses might be commanded to do the same for the avoiding of Disobedience and Contention in the Realm By which means he said The Evil-Will of the People might be conveyed from the King and his Council upon the Ordinaries And so the Love and Obedience of the People better secured to their Soveraign Such was his care of his Prince to preserve him in the Affections of his People that he was willing to take upon himself their Enmity that it might not light upon the King But Cranmer had observed these Holy Days were kept by many even in the Court under the King's Eye which he well knew was an Example and Encouragement to the whole Nation And therefore he signified to the Lord Crumwel that they could never perswade the People to cease from keeping them when the King 's own Houshold were an Example unto the rest to break his own Ordinances See his Letter to Crumwel in the Appendix CHAP. XV. The Bible printed HE was now at Ford and it was in the Month of August when something fell out that gave the good Arch-bishop as much Joy as ever happened to him in all the time of his Prelacy It was the printing of the Holy Bible in the English Tongue in the great Volume Which was now finished by the great Pains and Charges of Richard Grafton the Printer Osiander who knew the Arch-bishop well when he was the King's Ambassador in Germany saith of him that he was Sacrarum Literarum Studiossimum Indeed he always had a great value for the Scriptures because they were the Word of God and extraordinary desirous he was from the very first entrance upon his Bishoprick that the People might have the liberty of reading it and for that purpose to have it interpreted into the Vulgar Language And so by Crumwel's means he got leave from the King that it might be translated and printed The care of the Translation lay wholly upon him assigning little Portions of this Holy Book to divers Bishops and Learned Men to do and being dispatched to be sent back to him And to his inexpressible Satisfaction he saw the Work finished in this Year about Iuly or August As soon as some of the Copies came to his Hand one he sent to Crumwel entreating him that he would present it from him to the King and no question he thought it the noblest Present that ever he made him and withal to intercede with his Majesty that the said Book might by his Authority be both bought and used by all indifferently Both which Crumwel did For which the Arch-bishop was full of Gladness and Gratitude and wrote two Letters to him soon after one another wherein he thanked him most heartily telling him How he had hereby made
his Memory famous to Posterity within the Realm among all such as should hereafter be favourers of God's Word and that he should hear of this good Deed of his at the last Day That for his part it was such a content to his Mind that he could not have done him a greater pleasure if he had given him a thousand Pounds And that such Knowledg would ensue hereupon that it should appear he had done excellent Service both to God and the King He also particularly spake of the Bishop of Worcester how highly obliged he was sure he was to him for this But I refer the Reader to his own Letters which follow MY very singular good Lord In my most harty wise I commend me unto your Lordship And whereas I understand that your Lordship at my Request hath not only exhibited the Bible which I sent unto you to the King's Majesty but also hath obtained of his Grace that the same shall be allowed by his Authority to be bought and read within this Realm My Lord for this your Pains taken in this behalf I give you my most hearty Thanks Assuring your Lordship for the Contentation of my Mind you have shewed me more pleasure here than if you had given me a thousand Pounds and I doubt not but that hereby such Fruit of good Knowledg shall ensue that it shall well appear hereafter what high and excellent Service you have done unto God and the King Which shall so much redound to your Honour that besides God's Reward you shall obtain perpetual Memory for the same within this Realm And as for me you may reckon me your Bondman for the same And I dare be bold to say so may ye do my Lord of Worcester Thus my Lord right hartily fare ye well At Ford the xiii day of August Your own Bound-man ever T. Cantuarien And in another Letter fifteen days after he again renewed his Thanks MY very singular and special good Lord In my most harty wise I commend me to your Lordship These shall be to give you most hearty Thanks that any Heart can think and that in the Name of them which favour God's Word for your diligence at this time in procuring the King's Highness to set forth the said God's Word and his Gospel by his Grace's Authority For the which Act not only the King's Majesty but also you shall have a perpetual Laud and Memory of all them that be now â—or hereafter shall be God's faithful People and the Favourers of his Word And this Deed you shall hear of at the Great Day when all things shall be opened and made manifest For our Saviour Christ saith in the said Gospel that whosoever shrinketh from Him and his Word and is abashed to profess and set it forth before Men in this World he will refuse him at that Day And contrary whosoever constantly doth profess Him and his Word and studieth to set that forward in this World Christ will declare the same at the Last Day before his Father and all his Angels and take upon him the Defence of those Men. Now because by these Letters of the Arch-bishop it appears how instrumental Crumwel was when the Bible was printed to procure the setting it forth by the King's Authority I will here relate more at large what Countenance and Assistance he gave to this pious Work all along and those that were concerned and employed in the doing of it The Bible as Fox speaks had been printed in the Year 1532 and reprinted again three or four Years after The Undertakers and Printers were Grafton and Whitchurch who printed it at Hamburgh The Corrector was Iohn Rogers a Learned Divine afterwards a Canon of St. Paul's in King Edward's Time and the first Martyr in the next Reign The Translator was William Tyndal another Learned Martyr with the help of Miles Coverdale after Bishop of Exeter But before all this second Edition was finish'd Tyndal was taken and put to death for his Religion in Flanders in the Year 1536. And his Name then growing into ignominy as one burnt for an Heretick they thought it might prejudice the Book if he should be named for the Translator thereof and so they used a feigned Name calling it Thomas Matthews Bible though Tyndal before his death had finished all but the Apocrypha which was translated by Rogers abovesaid who added also some Marginal Notes In this Bible were certain Prologues and a special Table collected of the common Places in the Bible and Texts of Scripture for proving the same And chiefly the common Places of the Lord's Supper the Marriage of Priests and the Mass. Of which it was there said that it was not to be found in Scripture This Bible giving the Clergy offence was gotten to be restrained Some Years after came forth the Bible aforesaid wherein Cranmer had the great Hand which as I suppose was nothing but the former corrected the Prologues and Table being left out When Grafton had finished this Work and printed off fifteen hundred Bibles at his great Charge amounting to five hundred Pounds a round Sum in those days the Ld. Crumwel desired to have six of his Books Which he forthwith sent by his Servant a clear Man of all suspicion of any Infection coming that day out of Flanders Grafton not adventuring to come himself with the Books because of the Infection at London where he was These Books therefore he sent together with a Letter of Thanks for being so assistant in the publication which as he writ in his Letter the Arch-bishop said the Tidings of did him more good than the Gift of ten thousand Pounds and for procuring the King's Licence which was thought fit to be signified in the Title Page in red Letters thus Set forth by the King 's most gracious Licence But several would not believe the King had licensed it and therefore he desired further of Crumwel that he would get it licensed under the Privy Seal which would be a Defence for the present and for the future But take the Letter as Grafton himself penned it MOST humbly beseeching your Lordship to understand that according to your Request I have sent your Lordship six Bibles which gladly I would have brought my self but because of the Sickness which remaineth in the City and therefore I have sent them by my Servant which this day came out of Flanders Requiring your Lordship if I may be so bold as to desire you to accept them as my simple Gift given to you for those most godly Pains for which the heavenly Father is bound even of his Justice to reward you with the Everlasting Kingdom of God For your Lordship's moving our most gracious Prince to the Allowance and Licensing of such a Work hath wrought such an Act worthy of Praise as never was mentioned in any Chronicle in this Realm and as my Lord of Canterbury said the Tydings thereof did him more good than the gift of 10000 l.
yet certain there are which believe not that it pleased the King's Grace to license it to go forth Wherefore if your Lordship's Pleasure were such that we might have it Licensed under your Privy Seal it would be a Defence at this present and in time to come for all Enemies and Adversaries of the same And forasmuch as this Request is for the maintenance of the Lord's Word which is to maintain the Lord himself I fear not but that your Lordship will be earnest therein And I am assured that my Lord of Canterbury Worcester and Salisbury will give your Lordship such Thanks as in them lieth And sure ye may be that the Heavenly Lord will reward you for the Establishment of his Glorious Truth And what your Lordship's Pleasure is in this Request if it may please your Lordship to inform my Servant I and all that love God heartily are bound to pray for your Preservation all the days of our Life At London the xxviii day of this present Month of August 1537. Your Orator while he lâ—veth Richard Grafton Grocer And as this Printer had addressed to Crumwel for the Privy Seal so he apprehended now a further need of the Corroboration of Authority upon another Account For some observing how exceeding acceptable the English Bible was to the common People were designing to print it in a less Volume and smaller Letters whereby it would come to pass that Grafton would be undersold and so he and his Creditors would be undone and besides it was like to prove a very ill Edition and very Erroneous Insomuch that Grafton affirmed they would commit as many Faults as there were Sentences in the Bible And it must needs be so because then the Printers were generally Dutchmen within the Realm that could neither speak nor write true English nor for Covetousness-sake would they allow any Learned Men at all to oversee and correct what they printed as formerly it had been printed but Paper Letter Ink and Correction would be all naught Therefore he desired one Favour more of the Lord Crumwel and that was to obtain for him of the King that none should print the Bible for three Years but himself And to move him he said he was sure the Bishop of Canterbury and other his special Friends would not be unthankful to him He urged to him that his whole Living lay upon this Point And for the better and quicker sale of his Books he desired also that by his Commandment in the King's Name every Curate might be obliged to have one â—hat they might learn to know God and to instruct their Parishioners and that every Abby should have six to be laid in several places of the Convent He wished some Commissions might be issued out to the Arch-bishop of Canterbury and the Bishops of Sarum and Worcester and they would readily cause this to be done in their Diocesses To which he earnestly added his own Arguments to provoke Crumwel to yield to his request This Letter may be found in the Appendix CHAP. XVI Many Suffragan Bishops made IT was now forbidden by the Parliament and in pursuance thereof by the Bishops in their several Diocesses that the Feast of S. Thomas a Becket the pretended Martyr should be celebrated any more nor of S. Laurence nor of divers others the Feasts of the Twelve Apostles excepted and of our Lady S. Michael and Mary Magdalene Also the Feast of the Holy Cross was forbid and commanded that none should presume to keep those Feasts Holy that is they should ring no Bells nor adorn their Churches nor go in Procession nor do other such-like things as belonged to the Celebration of Festivals So when S. Thomas's Eve came which had used constantly by the Arch-bishops of Canterbury and their Domesticks to be celebrated by Fasting Arch-bishop Cranmer took no notice of that Eve but eat Flesh and supped in his Parlour with his Family Which created much Observation it having never been seen before the Arch-bishop thinking it unworthy that a Man of that Devotion to the See of Rome and disloyalty to his natural Prince should bâ— so religiously commemorated Bishops Diocesan Consecrated March the 25 th Robert Holgate Master of the Order of Sempringham was consecrated Bishop of Landaff in the Chappel of S. Mary in the Conventual Church of Friars Preachers of the City of London by Iohn Bishop of Rochester by virtue of Letters Commissional from the Arch-bishop to him Iohn Bishop of Bangor and Nicolas Bishop of Sarum assisting This Holgate was either Abbot or Prior of S. Mary Watte an House of Gilbertines which he held in Commendam and surrendred in the Year 1539. Suffragan Bishops Iune the 24 th Iohn Bird S. Th. P. Provincial of the Order of Friars Carmelites of the City of London was consecrated Suffragan of the See of Penrith in Landaff Diocess And Lewis Thomas formerly Abbot of the Monastery of Kynmer Suffragan Bishop of the See of Salop both consecrated at Lambeth by the Arch-bishop The Assistant Bishops at this Consecration not mentioned in the Register Of Bird a word or two I find him in Norwich about the Year 1531. busy with Bilney before his Death He was a Person K. Henry made use of for in the Year 1535 he with Fox the Almoner and Bedel a Clark of the Council were sent to Q. Katharine divorsed from the King to forbear the Name of Queen Which nevertheless she would not do He preached certain Sermons before the King against the Pope's Supremacy Bale in his Exposition upon the Revelations makes him to be one of the Ten Horns that shall hate the Whore Godwin asserts of him that he was once Bishop of Ossory Bale in his Centuries mentions not at all his being an Irish Bishop but naming his Preferments first calls him Episcopus Penricensis In 1539 made Bishop of Bangor and removed to Chester 1541. He was married and therefore upon Q. Mary's access to the Crown was deprived of his Bishoprick but complied with the old Religion I find him alive in the Year 1555 being then at Fulham at Bishop Bonner's and there he lodged Upon his coming he brought his Present with him a Dish of Apples and a Bottle of Wine While he was here he exhorted Mr. Hawkes Convented for pretended Heresy before Bonner to learn of his Elders and to bear with some things and be taught by the Church and not to go too far In that Queen's Reign he became Bonner's Suffragan and Vicar of Dunmow in Essex November the 4 th Thomas Morley formerly Abbot of Stanley in Sarum Diocess of the Cistertian Order was consecrated in the Chappel of Lambeth Suffragan of the See of Marlborough by the Arch-bishop assisted by Iohn Bishop of Lincoln and Iohn Bishop of Rochester December the first the Arch-bishop according to the Direction of the Act for Suffragan Bishops nominated to the King two Persons out of which he might elect a
Suffragan for Dover viz. Richard Yngworth Prior of the Priory of Langley-Regis and Iohn Codenham both Doctors in Divinity December the 8 th The King answered Cranmer's Letter by his Privy Seal wherein he appointed Yngworth to be consecrated for his said Suffragan And accordingly December the 9 th Iohn Bishop of London by virtue of Commissional Letters from the Arch-bishop assisted by Iohn Bishop of Rochester and Robert Bishop of St. Asaph consecrated the said Yngworth On the 10 th the Arch-bishop issued out his Commission to the said Suffragan ordaining him his Suffragan by those Presents until he should think fit to withdraw his said Commission again Signifying that what he was to do was within his Diocess and City of Canterbury and Jurisdiction of Calis and the Marches thereof to confirm Children to bless Altars Chalices Vestments and other Ornaments of the Church to suspend Places and Churches and to reconcile them to consecrate Churches and Altars new set up to confer all the lesser Orders to consecrate Holy Oil of Chrism and Holy Unction and to perform all other things belonging to the Office of a Bishop The Bishop's Letter to the King desiring him to appoint him a Suffragan out of those two above-named And the Arch-bishop's Commissional Letters to Suffragan Yngworth may be seen in the Appendix And he that is minded to read the Form of the King's Mandate to the Arch-bishop for making a Suffragan may find it in The History of the Reformation The Reason why the Arch-bishop all this while that is from the first making the Act in the Year 1534 to this Time had nominated none for Suffragan to this See till now might be because there seemed to be a Suffragan already even the same that had been in the time of Arch-bishop Warham namely Iohn Thornton Prior of Dover who was one of the Witnesses appointed by that Arch-bishop to certify what was found and seen at the opening of S. Dunstan's Tomb. Richard Thornden seems to have succeeded Yngworth in this Office some Years after and was very dear to the Arch-bishop having been by him preferred to be Prebend of Canterbury though he proved very false to him and was among those that made a treacherous Combination against him in the Year 1543. And in Q. Mary's Time became a great Persecutor December the 9 th Iohn Hodgkin Professor of Divinity was consecrated at the same time and by the same Bishops as above but to what See is not mentioned The Bishop of London together with this Hodgkin had nominated to the King Robert Struddel Professor of Divinity Both he recommended to the King by Letters to be made Suffragans at large without mention of any See in his Diocess but only expressing that his Diocess wanted the comfort of Suffragans that might bear a part in his Cure and so mentioned those two adding that the King might appoint them to some See within the Province of Canterbury Hodgkin if I mistake not was consecrated Suffragan of Bedford And was afterwards one of those that assisted at the Consecration of Arch-bishop Parker He was a Black Friar In the Year 1531 he with Bird laboured with Bilney at Norwich a little before his Death to bring him off from the Doctrines for which he was condemned Afterwards Hodgkin coming nearer under the Arch-bishop's Eye by his means came to better knowledg in Religion and married a Wife but in Queen Mary's Time put her away March 24. Henry Holbeach Prior of the Cathedral Church of Wigorn S. T. P. Hugh Bishop of Wigorn having recommended him to the King for Suffragan Bishop of Bristow was accordingly consecrated in the Bishop of London's Chappel in the said Bishop's House situate in Lambeth-Marsh by the said Bishop Hugh Bishop of Wigorn and Robert Bishop of S. Asaph assisting CHAP. XVII The Bible in English allowed THE next Year I find the careful Arch-bishop again at Canterbury looking after his Charge And here he read Lectures upon the Epistle of S. Paul to the Hebrews half the Lent in the Chapter-House of the Monastery of the Holy Trinity Now viz. 1538. the Holy Bible was divulged and exposed to common sale and appointed to be had in every Parish-Church And then that the Sacred Book might be used with the more benefit both of the Clergy and Lay-People for this Reason a Declaration was issued out to be read openly by all Curates upon the publishing of this Bible shewing the godly Ends of his Majesty in permitting it to be in English and directions how they should read and hear it Namely to use it with Reverence and greâ—â— Devotion to conform their Lives unto it and to encourage those that were under them Wives Children and Servants to live according to the Rules thereof that in doubtful Places they should confer with the Learned for the Sense who should be appointed to preach and explain the same and not to contend and dispute about them in Ale-houses and Taverns They that are minded to read this Declaration may find it in the Appendix This Bible was of so quick sale that two Years after it was printed again It was wonderful to see with what joy this Book of God was received not only among the Learneder sort and those that were noted for Lovers of the Reformation but generally all England over among all the Vulgar and common People and with what greediness God's Word was read and what resort to Places where the reading of it was Every body that could bought the Book or busily read it or got others to read it to them if they could not themselves and divers more elderly People learned to read on purpose And even little Boys flocked among the rest to hear Portions of the Holy Scripture read One William Maldon happening in the Company of Iohn Fox in the beginning of the Reign of Q. Elizabeth and Fox being very inquisitive after those that suffered for Religion in the former Reigns asked him if he knew any that were persecuted for the Gospel of Iesus Christ that he might add it to his Book of Martyrs He told him he knew one that was whipp'd by his own Father in K. Henry's Reign for it And when Fox was very inquisitive who he was and what was his Name he confessed it was himself and upon his desire he wrote out all the Circumstances Namely That when the King had allowed the Bible to be set forth to be read in all Churches immediately several poor Men in the Town of Chelmsford in Essex where his Father lived and he was born bought the New-Testament and on Sundays fat reading of it in the Lower end of the Church many would flock about them to hear their reading and he among the rest being then but fifteen Years old came every Sunday to hear the glad and sweet Tidings of the Gospel But his Father observing it once angrily fetch'd him away and would have him to say the Latin
't is said from the Arch-bishop Therefore the King prest by some of the Papists about him who began now after Lambert's Death to listen to them set forth a Proclamation Novemb. 16. for the stopping of such Matrimonies Which ran in this Tenor. That the King's Majesty understanding that a few in number of this his Realm being Priests as well Religious as other had taken Wives and married themselves c. His Highness in no wise minding that the generality of the Clergy of this his Realm should with the Example of such a few number of light Persons proceed to Marriage without a common Consent of his Highness and his Realm Did therefore streightly charge and command as well all and singular the said Priests as have attempted Marriages that be openly known as all such as would presumptuously proceed to the same that they ne any of them should minister any Sacrament or other Ministry Mystical Ne have any Office Dignity Cure Privilege Profit or Commodity heretofore accustomed and belonging to the Clergy of this Realm but should be utterly after such Marriages expelled and deprived from the same and be had and reputed as Lay-persons to all intents and purposes And that such as should after this Proclamation contrary to his Commandment of their presumptuous Mind take Wives and be married should run in his Grace's Indignation and suffer further Punishment and Imprisonment at his Grace's Will and Pleasure Dat. xvi Novembris Anno Regni sui xxx Wherein we may observe what a particular regard the King had for the Arch-bishop in relation to his Wife that the danger of the Proclamation might not reach him by limiting the Penalty not to such as were married and kept their Wives secretly but to such as should marry hereafter and such as kept them openly And we may observe further that it seemed to be in the King's Mind in due time to tolerate Marriages to Priests by Act of Parliament which that Clause seems to import that these Priests had married themselves without a common Consent of his Highness and his Realm And Bishop Ponet or whoever else was the Author of the Defence of Priests Marriage assures us that the King intended to permit Priests to take Wives knowing how necessary it was to grant that Liberty and he affirms that it was not unknown to divers that heard him speak oft of that Matter But was hindred by some jealous Councellors that pretended how ill the People would take it had it been done by his Authority The Sect of Anabaptists did now begin to pester this Church and would openly dispute their Principles in Taverns and publick places and some of them were taken up Many also of their Books were brought in and printed here also which was the cause that the King now set out a severe Proclamation against them and their Books To which he joined the Sacramentaries as lately with the other come into the Land Declaring That he abhorred and detested their Errors and that those that were apprehended he would make Examples Ordering that they should be detected and brought before the King or his Council and that all that were not should in eight or ten days depart the Kingdom This Proclamation may be read in the Appendix Num. VIII Where I have misplaced it A Commission also was then given out to the Arch-bishop to Iohn Bishop of Lincoln Rich. Bishop of Chichester and others against this Sect. Which Commission was signed at the bottom by Thomas Crumwel It was observed that the Parsons Vicars and Curates did read confusedly the Word of God and the King's Injunctions lately set forth and commanded by them to be read humming and hauking thereat that almost no Man could understand the meaning of the Injunction And they secretly suborned certain spreaders of Rumors and false Tales in Corners who interpreted the Injunctions to a false sense And because there was an Order that all Christnings Marriages and Burials should be registred from time to time and the Books surely kept in the Parish Churches they blew abroad that the King intended to make new Exactions at all Christnings Weddings and Burials adding that therein the King went about to take away the Liberties of the Realm for which they said Thomas a Becket died And they bad their Parishioners notwithstanding what they read being compelled so to do that they should do as they did in Times past to live as their Fathers and that the old Fashion is the best and other crafty and seditious Parables they gave out among them This forced the King to write his Letters to the Justices of Peace to take up such seditious Parsons Vicars and Curates And in these Letters is explained the true Reason of Thomas a Beckeâ—'s Contention with K. Henry II. As that he contended that none of the Clergy offending should be called to account or corrected but in the Bishop's Courts only and not by the Laws of the Realm and that no King should be Crowned but by the Arch-bishop of Canterbury only The Church of Hereford being now become vacant by the Death of Fox an excellent Instrument of the Reformation the Archbishop committed the custody of the Spiritualities to Hugh Coren Doctor of Canon Laws and Prebendary of that Church and by him visited the Church and Diocess and gave certain Injunctions to the Parsons Vicars and other Curats there These Injunctions as I find them in Cranmer's Register were eight in number Which I shall not here insert at large because they may be met with in the History of the Reformation But in short they enjoined the Observation of the King's Injunctions given by his Majesty's Commissaries in the Year 1536. They enjoined that they should have by the first of August a whole Bible in Latin and English or at least a New Testament in the same Languages That they should every day study one Chapter of the Bible or Testament conferring the Latin and English together and to begin at the beginning of the Book and so continue to the End That they should not discourage any Lay-men from reading the Bible but encourage them to it And to read it for the Reformation of their Lives and Knowledg of their Duty and not to be bold and presumptuous in judging of things before they have perfect Knowledg That they should both in their Preachings and Confessions and in other their Doings excite their Parishioners unto such Works as are commanded by God expresly Adding that for this God should demand of them a strict Reckoning And to teach them that other Works which they do of their own Devotion are not to be so highly esteemed as the other And that for the not doing them God will not ask any Account That no Friar have any Cure or Service in their Churches unless he were dispensed withal and licensed by the Ordinary That they admit no young Person to the Sacrament who never received it before unless such
Person openly in the Church after Mass upon a Holy-day say the Lord's Prayer the Creed and the Ten Commandments That they twice a Quarter declare the Bands of Matrimony and the danger of using their Bodies but with such Persons as they might by the Law of God and that no privy Contracts be made as they would avoid the extream Peril of the Laws of the Realm No Diocesan Bishop Consecrated this Year Bishops Suffragans Robert Bishop of S. Asaph recommended to the King Iohn Bradley Abbot of the Monastery of Milton of the order of S. Benedict or William Pelles both Batchellors of Divinity to the Dignity of Suffragan within the Diocess Province rather of Canterbury mentioning no particular See The Bishop of Bath and Wells also recommended two to the King out of which to nominate a Suffragan to some See within the Province of Canterbury viz. William Finch late Prior of Bremar and Richard Walshe Prior of the Hospital of S. Iohn Baptist of Bridgewater April the 7 th William Finch was nominated by the King to the Arch-bishop to be Consecrated for Suffragan of Taunton and then consecrated in the Chappel of S. Maries in the Conventual Church of the Friars Preachers London by Iohn Bishop of Rochester by virtue of Letters Commissional from the Arch-bishop Robert Bishop of S. Asaph and William Suffragan of Colchester assisting And March the 23. Iohn Bradley was consecrated Suffragan of Shaftsbury in the Chancel of the Parish-Church of S. Iohn Baptist in Southampton by Iohn Bishop of Bangor by the Letters Commissional of Thomas Arch-bishop of Canterbury Iohn Ipolitanen and Thomas Suffragan of Marleborough assisting CHAP. XIX The Act of Six Articles THIS Year October the 6 th I meet with a Commission ad Facultates granted from the Arch-bishop to a famous Man Nicolas Wotton LL. D. a Man of great Learning and made use of by the King afterwards in divers Embassies and a Privy-Counsellor to King Henry and his three Children successively Princes of the Realm and Dean of Canterbury and York This Commission was in pursuance of a late Act of Parliament to this Tenor That in whatsoever Cases not prohibited by Divine Right in which the Bishop of Rome or Roman See heretofore accustomed to Dispence and also in all other Cases in which the Bishop or See of Rome accustomed not to dispence if so be they were not forbid by Divine Right in these Cases the Arch-bishop had Power granted him to Dispense In this Office he constituted Wotton his Commissary or Deputy for the Term of his natural Life He succeeded Edmund Boner Master of the Arch-bishop's Faculties now preferred to the Bishoprick of Hereford So that Cranmer took notice of the Merits of this Man who was so much made use of afterwards in the Church and State and was of that great Esteem and Reputation that he was thought on in the beginning of Q. Elizabeth's Reign for ABp of Canterbury In the Year 1528. he was Doctor of Laws and the Bishop of London's Official In the Year 1540 he was Resident for the King in the Duke of Cleve's Court and had been employed in the Match between the King and the Lady Ann of that House the Year before and perhaps this might be the first time he was sent abroad in the King's Business In the Year 1539 the King took occasion to be displeased with the Arch-bishop and the other Bishops of the new Learning as they then termed them because they could not be brought to give their Consent in the Parliament that the King should have all the Monasteries suppressed to his own sole use They were willing he should have all the Lands as his Ancestors gave to any of them but the Residue they would have had bestowed upon Hospitals Grammar-Schools for bringing up of Youth in Vertue and good Learning with other things profitable in the Common-wealth The King was hereunto stirred by the crafty Insinuations of the Bishop of Winchester and other old dissembling Papists And as an effect of this Displeasure as it was thought in the Parliament this Year he made the terrible bloody Act of the Six Articles Whereby none were suffered to speak a word against the Doctrine of Transubstantiation upon pain of being burnt to Death as an Heretick and to forfeit all his Lands and Goods as in case of Treason And moreover it was made Felony and forfeiture of Lands and Goods to defend the Communion in both kinds Marriage in a Priest or in any Man or Woman that had vowed Chastity or to say any thing against the necessity of Private Masses and Auricular Confession Which Articles were plainly enough designed against any that should dare to open their Mouths against these Romish Errors and especially to impose Silence and that on pain of Death upon many honest Preachers that were now risen up and used to speak freely against these Abuses and as a good means to keep the poor People still securely in their old Ignorance and Superstition But before this Act passed marvellous great struggling there was on both Parts for and against it But the side of the Favourers of the Gospel at this time was the weaker the King now enclining more to the other Party for the reason abovesaid and for other Causes Wherein I refer the Reader to the Conjectures of the Lord Herbert The Bishops disputed long in the House some for it and some against it The Arch-bishop disputed earnestly three days against it using divers Arguments to disswade passing the Act. Which were so remarkable for the Learning and Weight of them that the King required a Copy of them And though he was resolved not to alter his purpose of having this Act made yet he was not offended with the Arch-bishops freedom as knowing the Sincerity of the Man Even those in the House that dissented from him were greatly taken with the Gravity Eloquence and Learning he then shewed and particularly the Dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk Who told him so at his Table soon after being sent by the King to him to comfort him under his dejection for this Act with Crumwel and many other Lords The Papist Writers say he opposed it because himself was a Married Man and so it would touch him close But it is plain that there were other of these Six Articles which he utterly disliked And especially he abhorred the rigorous penalty of the Act. But hereupon he privately sent away his Wife into Germany among her Friends On this side also were beside the Arch-bishop the Bishops of Ely Sarum Worcester Rochester and St. Davids York Durham Winchester and Carlile went vigorously the other way Against the former the King himself argued with his Learning out of the Scriptures and would by all means prove these Articles thence The Parliament Men said little against this Bill but seemed all unanimous for it Neither did the Lord Chancellor Audley no nor the Lord Privy Seal
Crumwel speak against it the Reason being no question because they saw the King so resolved upon it Nay it came to be a flying Report that the Arch-bishop of Canterbury himself and all the Bishops except Sarum consented But this is not likely that Cranmer who had so openly and zealously opposed it should be so soon changed and brought to comply with it Nay at the very same time it passed he staid and protested against it though the King desired him to go out since he could not consent to it Worcester also as well as Sarum was committed to Prison and he as well as the other resigned up his Bishoprick upon the Act. In the foresaid Disputation in the Parliament-house the Arch-bishop behaved himself with such humble modesty and obedience in word towards his Prince protesting the Cause not to be his but God's that neither his Enterprize was misliked of the King and his Allegations and Reasons were so strong that they could not be refuted Great pity it is that these Arguments of the Arch-bishop are lost which I suppose they are irrecoverably because Fox that lived so near those Times and so elaborate a Searcher after such Papers could not meet with them and all that he could do was to wish that they were extant to be seen and read However I will make my Conjecture here that I am apt to think that one of the main Matters insisted on by him at this time was against the cruel Penalty annexed to these Articles For I find in one of the Arch-bishop's Manuscript Volumes now in Benet-College Library there is in this very Year a Discourse in Latin upon this Subject Num in haereticos jure Magistratui gravius animadvertere liceat Decisio Vrbani Rhegii Interprete Iacobo Gisleno Anno 1539. Which Book I suppose he might at this juncture have read over and made use of The Dukes and Lords of Parliament that as above was said came over to Lambeth to visit and dine with him by the King's Command used words to him to this Tenor The King's Pleasure is that we should in his behalf cherish and comfort you as one that for your travail in the late Parliament declared your self both greatly Learned and also Discreet and Wise And therefore my Lord be not discouraged for any thing that past there contrary to your Allegations The Arch-bishop replied In the first place my Lords I heartily thank the King's Highness for his singular good Affection towards me and you all for your pains And I hope in God that hereafter my Allegations and Authorities shall take place to the Glory of God and Commodity of the Realm Every of the Lords brought forth his Sentence in commendation of him to shew what good-will both the King and they bare to him One of them entred into a Comparison between the said Arch-bishop and Cardinal Wolsey preferring the Arch-bishop before him for his mild and gentle Nature whereas he said the Cardinal was a stubborn and churlish Prelate that could never abide any Noble-man The Lord Crumwel as Cranmer's Secretary relates who himself heard the words You my Lord said he were born in an happy Hour I suppose for do or say what you will the King will always take it well at your Hands And I must needs confess that in some things I have complained of you to his Majesty but all in vain for he will never give credit against you whatsoever is laid to your Charge But let me or any other of the Council be complained of his Grace will most seriously chide and fall out with us And therefore you are most happy if you can keep you in this State The Roman Zealots having obtained this Act of the Six Articles desisted not but seconded their Blow by a Book of Ceremonies to be used by the Church of England so intituled all running after the old Popish strain It proceeded all along in favour of the Roman Church's superstitious Ceremonies endeavouring to shew the good signification of them The Book first begins with an Index of the Points touched therein viz. Churches and Church-yards the hallowing and reconcileing them The Ceremonies about the Sacrament of Baptism Ordering of the Ministers of the Church in general Divine Service to be sung and said in the Church Mattins Prime and other Hours Ceremonies used in the Mass. Sundays with other Feasts Bells Vesture and Tonsure of the Ministers of the Church and what Service they be bound unto Bearing Candles upon Candlemass-day Fasting Days The giving of Ashes The covering of the Cross and Images in Lent Bearing of Palms The Service of Wednesday Thursday and Friday before Easter The hallowing of Oil and Chrism The washing of the Altars The hallowing of the Font upon Saturday in the Easter-Even The Ceremonies of the Resurrection in Easter-Morning General and other particular Processions Benedictions of Bells or Priests Holy Water and holy Bread A general Doctrine to what intent Ceremonies be ordained and of what value they be The Book it self is too long to be here inserted but such as have the Curiosity may find it in the Cotton Library and may observe what Pains was taken to smooth and varnish over the old Supperstions I do not find this Book mentioned by any of our Historians The Bishop of Winchester with his own Pen hath an Annotation in the Margin of one place in the Book And I strongly suspect he was more than the Revisor of it and that it was drawn up by him and his Party and strongly pushed on to be owned as the Act of the Clergy For this Year there was a Convocation The King had sent his Letters written March the 12 th in the 30 th Year of his Reign viz. 1538. to the Arch-bishop of Canterbury for summoning a Convocation to meet together at St. Paul's the second day of May. But this Assembly by the King's Letters to him was prorogued till November the 4 th At this Convocation I suppose these Articles were invented and propounded to the House All this long Book in behalf of the Ceremonies did our laborious Metropolitan put himself to the pains of answering and thereby hindred the Reception of it For concerning this I do interpret that Passage of Fox viz. That the Arch-bishop confuted eighty eight Articles devised by a Convocation and which were laboured to be received but were not But to return to the six Articles Great triumphing now there was on the Papists Side as appears by a Letter wrote from some Roman Catholick Member of the House of Lords to his Friend Which may be read in the Appendix But after some time the King perceiving that the said Arch-bishop and Bishops did this thing not of Malice or Stubbornness but out of a zeal they had to God's Glory and the Common-wealth reformed in part the said Six Articles and somewhat blunted the Edg of them March 20. Two Commissions were sent to the Arch-bishop to take the Surrender
Noble-men then about him that Bishop was a turbulent wilful Man and if he were joined with them they should have no quiet in their Consultations The same Reason we may conclude moved the King now in these Deliberations about Religion to lay him aside These Persons were generally learned and moderate Men and such as we may conjecture the Arch-bishop had the Nomination of to the King However we may be sure Winchester was not idle at this time And first the Doctrine of the Sacraments was examined by propounding seventeen distinct Questions drawn up as I have reason to conclude by the Arch-bishop on which the Divines were to consult But each one was to set down in Writing his Sense of every of these Questions singly and succinctly These Questions are the same with those in the History of the Reformation The Right Reverend Author hath set down there the several Answers that those Bishops and Divines that he met with in Bishop Stillingfleet's Manuscript made to each Question which I shall not now repeat after him But I find in a Cotton Book a few Pages that deserve according to my poor Judgment to be transcribed of something which is not in that History being the Answers of other Bishops and Divines in the same Commission The first is Nameless but for some Reasons I believe him to be the Bishop of Durham Each Page consisteth of three Columes the middle Colume contains the Questions On one side-Colume is writ his Answer to each Question on the other side-Colume are the King's Notes upon the Answer wrote by his own Hand I refer the Reader to the Appendix for this There follow in the Cotton Book Solutions of each of these Questions by another omitted by the Bishop of Sarum in his History He is nameless also but appears to have been some popishly affected Bishop but yet one that conversed much with the Arch-bishop the Bishop of S. David's and Dr. Cox and was I suppose Thirleby Elect of Westminster For in many places in the Margin of his Paper are set the Names of those Men for what purpose I do not know unless to signify their Judgments as agreeable with his though in these very places sometimes their Minds and his differ This Man's Answer also was perused by the King who sometimes writ his own Objections in the Margin This also I have cast into the Appendix In the conclusion of this famous Consultation upon these seventeen Articles concerning the Sacraments their Resolutions being drawn up in Writing under their own hands The Arch-bishop having these Discourses given into his hand for the King's Use drew up a Summary of each Man's Judgment Which together with his own he caused to be written fairly out by his Secretary and so presented to the King The Bishop of Sarum hath saved me the trouble of writing them out in this Work having presented them already to the World in his History from another Manuscript than the Cotton Book which I make use of which is a true Original The Arch-bishop's Summary may be found among the Collections in the said History against the word Aggrement in the Margin and the Arch-bishop's own Judgment against his Name in the Margin At the conclusion of his Paper which he sent to the King he subscribed thus most warily and modestly with his own Hand T. Cantuarien This is mine Opinion and Sentence at this present which nevertheless I do not temerariously define but refer the Judgment thereof unto your Majesty Besides these 17 Questions there are in this choice Cottonian Manuscript divers others propounded to another Combination of Bishops and Divines perhaps about this time or rather I conceive three Years before with their Answers under their Hands thereunto being called together in order to the composing the Book called The Institution As concerning Confirmation Whether this Sacrament be a Sacrament of the New Testament instituted by Christ or not What is the outward Sign and invisible Grace that is conferred in the same What Promises be made that the said Graces shall be received by this Sacrament The Bishop of Sarum hath printed among his Collections the Resolutions of the Arch-bishop of Canterbury and Bishop of London to these Queries having taken them out of this Manuscript Volume which I use But there be here the Opinions of many more both Bishops and other Dignitaries of the Church As namely the Arch-bishop of York the Bishops of Ely Rochester Lincoln Bangor and Sarum Then follows the Opinion of the Bishop of London and next of the Arch-bishop of Canterbury Then come the Judgments of Dr. Wotton Dean of Canterbury Dr. Barber Arch-deacon of Cleveland and Warden of All-Souls Oxon and one of the Convocation in 1562. Dr. Bell a Civilian employed in the King's Business against Queen Katharine Arch-deacon of Glocester and soon after Bishop of Worcester Dr. Wolman Dean of Wells Dr. Marshall Arch-deacon of Nottingham Dr. Cliff Treasurer of the Church of York Dr. Edmunds the same I suppose that was Master of Peter-house Cambridg Dr. Downs Chancellor of the Church of York Dr. Marmaduke the same probably that was called Marmaduke VValdeby Dr. Robinson for Robertson I suppose Arch-deacon of Leicester Dr. Smith he probably that was Professor of Divinity in Oxon Dr. Buckmaster and another nameless And as these Learned Men treated of this Point of Confirmation so by the various Heads and Discourses I meet with here they all gave their Judgments of divers other chief Points of Religion as De Fide De Salvatione De Matrimonio De Poenitentia De Sacramentorum usu and De auriculari Confessione Where is a Letter of the King 's own writing in answer to somewhat the Bishop of Durham had writ upon that Argument This Royal Letter the Bishop of Sarum hath printed in his History Of Priests Marriage whereof the King wrote a short Discourse Of Pilgrimages Of Purgatory of this there is a Discourse wrote by Latimer And after follows another by the King Latimer's Discourse is animadverted upon by the King's Pen in the Margin De utraque specie Three or four large Discourses thereupon in favour of Receiving in one Kind One whereof was part of the King's Answer to the German Ambassadours that were sent hither about a Treaty in the Years 1538 and 1539. The Second is part of an Apology by an English Divine to those German Protestants for Communion in one Kind and for private Mass. And this latter probably is the Bishop of Durham's because the Correction of the Paper transcribed as it seems by his Secretary here and there is his own Hand So that some of these Discourses were I make no doubt drawn up by the Divines for the King's Use in order to his Answer to the Writing which the German Agents the last Year had composed before their Voyage home But these Papers some English and some Latin are so large that they would too much swell this Volume and
intangle the Thred of the Discourse if I should here insert them And therefore I must omit them and proceed to other matters In this thirty second Year of the King by a seasonable Law a stop was put to an Evil that now mightily prevailed Namely the frequency of Divorces For it was ordinary to annul Marriages and divide Man and Wife from each other who it may be had lived long together and had Children in Wedlock When upon any disgust of Man or Wife they would withdraw from one another and so in effect make their Children Bastards upon pretence of some Pre-contract or Affinity Which by the Pope's Law required a Divorce The King himself took particular care of this Act and there were two rough Draughts of it which I have seen in the Cotton Library both which he himself revised diligently and corrected with his own Pen. These Divorces the Arch-bishop highly disliked and might probably have laid before the King the great Inconveniences as well as Scandal thereof It troubled him to see how common these Divorces were grown in Germany and After-Marriages and Bigamy There is a Letter of his to Osiander the German Divine concerning Matrimony In what Year written appeareth not unless perhaps in this Year or the following now that the King was employing his Thoughts about redress of this Business The sum of the Letter is to desire Osiander to supply him with an Answer to some things that seemed to reflect a Fault upon those in Germany that professed the Gospel and that was that they allowed such as were divorsed to marry again both Parties divorsed being alive and that they suffered without any Divorce a Man to have more Wives than one And Osiander had acknowledged as much expressly to Cranmer in a Letter seeming to complain of it and added that Philip Melancthon himself was present at one of these Marriages of a second Wife the first being alive Indeed if any thing were done among those Protestants that seemed not just and fair to be sure Cranmer should presently be twitted in the Teeth for it And then he was fain to make the best Answers he could either out of their Books or out of his own Invention And he was always asked about the Affairs in those Parts And sometimes he was forced to confess some things and be ready to blush at them such a concern had he for Germany as concerning their Allowance of Usury and of Concubines to their Noble-men as he wrote to the said German But I will not longer detain the Reader from perusing the excellent Learned Letter of the Arch-bishop which he may find in the Appendix concerning this Subject CHAP. XXI The largest Bible printed THE largest English Bible coming forth in Print this Year wherein our Arch-bishop out of his Zeal to God's Glory had so great an influence I shall here take occasion to give some account of the Translation of as well as I can there having been no exact Story thereof any where given as I know of The first time the Holy Scripture was printed in English for written Copies thereof of Wickliffs Translation there were long before and many was about the Year 1526. And that was only the New Testament translated by Tindal assisted by Ioy and Constantine and printed in some Foreign Parts I suppose at Hamburgh or Antwerp For in this Year I find that Cardinal Wolsey and the Bishops consulted together for the prohibiting the New Testament of Tindal's Translation to be read And Tonstal Bishop of London issued out his Commission to his Arch-deacons for calling in the New Testament This Year also Tonstal and Sir Thomas More bought up almost the whole Impression and burnt them at Paul's Cross. I think it was this first Edition that Garret alias Garrerd Curate of Hony-Lane afterwards burnt for Heresy dispersed in London and Oxford Soon after Tindal revised his Translation of the New Testament and corrected it and caused it again to be printed about the Year 1530. The Books finished were privily sent over to Tindal's Brother Iohn Tindal and Thomas Patmore Merchants and another young Man who received them and dispersed them For which having been taken up by the Bishop of London they were adjudged in the Star-Chamber Sir Thomas More being then Lord Chancellor to ride with their Faces to the Horse Tail having Papers on their Heads and the New Testaments and other Books which they dispersed to be fastened thick about them pinned or tacked to their Gowns or Clokes and at the Standard in Cheap themselves to throw them into a Fire made for that purpose and then to be fined at the King's Pleasure Which Penance they observed The Fine set upon them was heavy enough viz. eighteen thousand eight hundred and forty Pounds and ten Pence as was extant to be seen in the Records of the Star-Chamber Anno 1531. The Bishops came into the Star-Chamber and communing with the King's Counsel and alledging that this Testament was not truly translated and that in it were Prologues and Prefaces of Heresy and Raillery against Bishops upon this Complaint the Testament and other such like Books were prohibited But the King gave Commandment to the Bishops at the same time that they calling to them the best Learned out of the Universities should cause a New Translation to be made so that the People might not be ignorant in the Law of God But the Bishops did nothing in obedience to this Commandment The same Year viz. 1531. in the Month of May Stokesly Bishop of London as Tonstal his Predecessor had done four or five Years before caused all the New Testaments of Tindal and many other Books which he had bought up to be brought to Paul's Church-yard and there openly burnt In the Year 1537. The Bible containing the Old and New Testaments called Matthews Bible of Tindal's and Roger's Translation was printed by Grafton and Whitchurch at Hamburgh to the number of fifteen hundred Copies Which Book obtained then so much Favour of the King by Crumwel's and Canterbury's Means that the King enjoined it to be had by all Curates and set up in all Parish-Churches throughout the Realm It was done by one Iohn Rogers who flourished a great while in Germany and was Superintendent of a Church there being afterwards a Prebend of S. Paul's and the first Martyr in Queen Mary's Days He is said by my Author to have translated the Bible into English from Genesis to the end of the Revelations making use of the Hebrew Greek Latin German and English that is Tyndal's Copies He added Prefaces and Notes out of Luther and dedicated the whole Book to King Henry under the Name of Thomas Matthews by an Epistle prefixed minding to conceal his own Name Graston and the rest of the Merchants concerned in the Work thinking that they had not Stock enough to supply all the Nation and this Book being of a
Volume not large enough and considering the Prologues and Marginal Notes gave offence to some and being put on by those that favoured the Gospel that as many as possible could be might be printed for the dispersing the Knowledg of Christ and his Truth they resolved to imprint it again which they intended should be of a larger Volumâ— than any before and therefore it was called when it came forth The Bible in the largest Volume They intended also in order to this Edition to have the former Translation revised and to omit several Prologues and Annotations And Miles Coverdale was the Man now that compared the Translation with the Hebrew and mended it in divers places and was the chief Overseer of the Work But though they left out Matthews's that is Roger's Notes yet they resolved to make Hands and Marks on the sides of the Book which meant that they would have particular notice to be taken of those Places being such Texts as did more especially strike at the Errors and Abuses of the Romish Church Grafton resolved to print this Bible in Paris if he could obtain leave there being better Paper and cheaper to be had in France and more dextrous Workmen For this purpose the Lord Crumwel who stood by him in this Enterprize procured Letters of the King as Fox relates to Francis the French King which were conveyed to Boner then Ambassador at that Court for him to present them to that King The Contents of which Letters of King Henry were to this effect For a Subject of his to imprint the Bible in English in his Dominion both in regard of his Paper and Workmen The King at the same time wrote to his said Ambassador to aid and assist the Undertakers of this good Work in all their reasonable Suits Boner did not only present this Letter to Francis and obtained with good Words the Licence desired but he shewed great Friendship to the Merchants and Printers and so encouraged them that the Work went on with good Speed and Success And to shew how well affected he was now to the Holy Bible he caused the English there in Paris to print the New Testament in English and Latin and took off a great many of them himself and distributed them to his Friends But the Principle that moved Boner in all this was that he might the better curry Favour with Crumwel and recommend himself to him who being the great Favourite now with the King was the fittest Instrument for his Rise The Letters Patents that Boner procured of the French King for the printing this Bible may be seen in the Appendix Wherein indeed I do not find any specification of King Henry's Letters to Francis but only mention made that he had sufficient Testimony that the said Henry had allowed them to print the Bible as well in Latin as English and being finished to bring the Impression safely over But notwithstanding this Royal Licence such was the overswaying Authority of the Inquisition in Paris that the Printers were had up into the said Inquisition For in the Year 1538 there was an Instrument dated December the 17 th coming from Henry Garvais S. Th. D. Prior of the Convent of the Friars-Preachers Paris and Vicar-General of the Venerable Father Friar Matthew Ory of the same Order and D. D. Inquisitor-General of Heretical Pravity in the whole Kingdom of France by Apostolical and Regal Authority especially Deputed Setting forth That since from the Translation of the Sacred Scriptures as well of the Old Testament as New into the Mother-Tongue which cometh to the Hands of the simple it is found in these last Days that some have taken occasion of Error in the Faith and that it is provided by Edicts of the Supream Court of Parliament that none should print the Old and New Testament in his Mother-Tongue or sell it being printed and that it was known to him that one Francis Regnault a Bookseller of the City of Paris in those Days did print the Bible in the Vulgar Britannick or English Language by reason of which Scandals and Errors might arise in the Church Therefore he gave out his Order to all Priests Vicars Curates c. to cite the said F. Reginault and all other that it might concern to answer c. And to inhibit them under Canonical Pains to imprint the said Bible nor to make away or conceal from him or his Possession the Sheets that are already printed unless they were seen by him and otherwise appointed Dated at Paris under the Seal used in such cases and the Sign Manual of the Notary Publick or sworn Scribe of the said Holy Inquisition Le Tellier But before this happened they were gone through even to the last part of the Work And then great Troubles arose The Printer was sent for by the Inquisitors and charged with certain Articles of Heresy And the English-men likewise that were at the Cost and Charges hereof and the Corrector Coverdale Therefore finding it not safe to tarry any longer they fled away as fast as they could leaving behind them all their Bibles the Impression consisting of five and twenty hundred in Number which were seized And if you would know what was done with them the Lieutenant-Criminal caused them to be burnt in Mâ—â—bert-place as heretical Books Only a few escaped the Lieutenant selling them for Waste-paper to a Haberdasher being about four dry-Fats full But however not long after the English that were concerned in this Work by the Encouragement of Crumwel went back to Paris again and got the Presses Letters and Printing-Servants and brought them over to London And so became Printers themselves which before they never intended And so at length in this Year 1540 they successfully printed off the Bible of the largest Volume and after that there were sundry other Impressions also To this Impression of the Bible that came forth in these troublesome Times and through extraordinary Opposition the King gave Countenance commanding the buying and setting it up For as it had been printed about three Years before and Crumwel the King's Vicar-General in his Injunctions in the King's Name had ordered all Incumbents of Livings to provide one and to set it up publickly in their Churches So this Year the King by his Proclamation in the Month of May did again command that this Bible of the largest Volume should be provided by the Curates and Parishioners of every Parish and set up in their Churches For as yet notwithstanding the first Injunctions many Parishes in the Realm were destitute of them Whether it were by reason of the unwillingness of the Priests to have the English Bible or the People to be any ways acquainted with it for fear it should make them Hereticks as their Curats told them He stinted also the Time namely that it should be every where provided before All-Saints Day next coming and that upon a Penalty of forty Shillings a Month after the said
Visitors were reduced to one viz. Dr. VVright And in concusion the Arch-bishop gave them a Set of Injunctions Declarations and Interpretations of their Statutes to the number of Four and twenty One was for the better frequenting Chappel and singing the Service Another for the Residence of the Warden not to be absent above sixty Days in a Year The rest were to observe at the Dean's Command the solemn Times of Disputation That such Bachelors of Arts that were Fellows should take their Degrees of Masters of Arts when they were standing for it That several of them being Masters of Arts should take Priests Orders That the Master and the rest Fellows and Scholars should wear long Gowns to their Heels plain Shirts and not gathered about the Neck and Arms and adorned with Silk and the rest should wear decent Garments Concerning keeping Boys beside such as were Servants that if any of the Fellows Scholars or Servants of the College shall keep any poor Scholars Boy or Youth to lodg with him in his Chamber or within the College to nourish him with the Fragments of the College after such a Day that he be then admonished by the Warden or Sub-warden c. and such Boys to be expelled the College But it seems this Visitation did not effect the good Ends intended by it For not long after another Commission for the Visitation of this College was given by the Arch-bishop to Iohn Barbar LL. D. Official of his Court of Canterbury In the Month of October there issued out the King's Letters to our Arch-bishop for taking away superstitious Shrines Which I suppose the Arch-bishop himself procured having complained to the King how little effect former Orders from his Majesty had taken and particularly in his own Church for the Images and Bones of supposed Saints with all the Monuments of their pretended Miracles to be taken away and defaced and how his Injunctions were illuded which commanded that there should be no Offerings nor setting up Candles to them in any Church and specially in the Cathedral Church of Canterbury which once before had been scoured of these Superstitions when Thomas a Becket's Tomb and the the Riches thereof were taken away The King in this Letter commanded him to cause due search to be made in his Cathedral Church for Shrines and coverings of Shrines â— and to take them away that there remain no memory thereof and to command all the Curats and Incumbents of Livings to do the like The King's Letters were as follow By the KING MOST Reverend Father in God right Trusty and right intirely Well-beloved We greet you well Letting you wit that whereas heretofore upon the Zeal and Remembrance which we had to our bounden Duty towards Almighty God perceiving sundry Superstitions and Abuses to be used and embraced by our People whereby they grievously offended Him and his Word We did not only cause the Images and Bones of such as they resorted and offered unto with the Ornaments of the same and all such Writings and Monuments of fained Miracles wherewith they were illuded to be taken away in all places of our Realm but also by our Injunctions commanded that no Offering or setting of Lights or Candles should be suffered in any Church but only to the Blessed Sacramenâ— of the Altar It is lately come to our knowledg that this our good Intent and Purpose notwithstanding the Shrines Coverings of Shrines and Monuments of those things do yet remain in sundry places of our Realm much to the slander of our Doings and to the great Displeasure of Almighty God the same being means to allure our Subjects to their former Hypocrisies and Superstition and also that our Injunctions be not kept as appertaineth Fro for the due and speedy reformation whereof we have thought meet by these our Letters expresly to Will and Command you that incontinently upon the Receipt hereof you shall not only cause due search to be made in your Cathedral Church for those things and if any Shrine Covering of Shrine Table Monument of Miracles or other Pilgrimage do there continue to cause it to be taken away so as there remain no memory of it But also that you shall take order with all the Curats and others having Charge within your Diocess to do the Semblable And to see that Our Injunctions be duly kept as appertaineth without failing as we trust you and as you woll answer to the contrary Yeven under our Signet at our Town of Hull the iiii day of October in the xxxiiii Year of our Reign This was dated from Hull for the King was now in his Progress towards Scotland to meet the Scots King according to appointment though he met him not Whereupon the Arch-bishop by his Letter dated from Lambeth Oct. 15. to Richard Lyel LL. D. Dean of the Deaneries of Shoreham Croyden Bocking Risburgh Terring and Pageham enjoined him to take care to execute the King's Will To cite before him with all speed all and singular the Ministers of the Collegiate Churches and Rectors Vicars and Priests of the Parish-Churches within the Deaneries aforesaid and then to declare to them the Contents of the King's Letters and to command them to observe exactly the King's Injunctions The like Letters he also sent to Edmond Cranmer Arch-deacon of Canterbury An Answer to which the said Edmond wrote to the Arch-bishop dated Oct. 29. signifying his doing according to the Arch-bishop's Commandment The like were written to Hugh Glazier the Arch-bishop's Commissary General in the Town of Calais and the Marches of the same Who sent his Answer to the Arch-bishop Nov. 24. from the Town of Calais I am apt to think that these Letters of the King were Circulary and sent with the same Command to all the Bishops to see executed in their several Diocesses though the Effect of them was according as the Bishops themselves stood affected This Year an exchange was made by the Abp of the Mannor of Bishopsbâ—rn for Bekesburn with Sir Iohn Gage Comptroller of the King's Houshold Bekesburn anciently called Livingsbâ—rn was healthfully and conveniently seated lying an easy distance from Canterbury whensoever the Arch-bishops were minded to be retired This place ABp Parker took a great delight in and intended greatly to enlarge by Buildings but died before he began his Purpose ABp Cranmer made considerable Buildings here and probably would have done more had he continued in his Prelacy In the Year 1552 he finished the Gate-house now standing as appears from the North and South sides thereof wherein are two Stones set in the Brick-work with the Letters of his Name T. C. and Coat of Arms and Motto Nosce Teipsum Deum together with the Date 1552. This Mannor now returned to the Church again from whence it had been for some time severed only the Owners changed For whereas before the Dissolution of the Monasteries it belonged to the Priors of Christ-Church Canterbury now it came to the Arch-bishops This
Mannor was not given to Christ-Church till after the Year 1400. Thomas Goldstone a Prior of that Church and a great Builder built the Mannor-house for a Mansion for the Priors and a Chappel annexed and a new Hall adjoining to the Dormitory and divers other Edifices there as we learn from the History of the Priors of Canterbury lately published To which we may add a Record in that Church to direct us in the Computation of the Time Viz. Anno Dom. 1508. In vigiliis S. Marci Capella dedicatur in Manerio de Lyvyngsborn procurante Thoma Goldston At the Dissolution this was alienated and given to Gage and from him it came to Arch-bishop Cranmer and his Successors And the Bargain was confirmed by Act of Parliament Anno Henr. 34. The Arch-bishop as he had opportunity preferred Learned and Pious Men in his Diocess in the Benefices of his Church and such who freely preached against the Pope and his Superstitions against Images and the Worship of them The chief of these were Nic. Ridley afterwards Bishop of London whom he made Vicar of Herne and Prebend of Canterbury and Iohn Scory afterwards Bishop of Chichester whom he made one of the six Preachers Michael Drum and Lancelot Ridley worthy Men were two more of the Six These he preferred and divers others about through his Diocess that set the Abuses of Popery open before the Peoples Eyes in their Sermons This so angred the Men of the old Religion and particularly some of his own Church in Canterbury that they detected them to the Arch-bishop by articling against them for their Doctrine This they did this Year when the Arch-bishop visited his Church And about two Years after they did so again as shall be taken notice of in due Season About this time it was that Serles and Shether two of the Six Preachers of Canterbury were by the Arch-bishop's Censure put to Recantation for some unsound Passages they had preached Which made them such Enemies to the Arch-bishop and such Contrivers of his Ruin by devising and drawing up a great number of Articles against him if they could have accomplished their Design as shall be seen hereafter under the Year 1543. It was observed of Shether at this time that after the pronouncing his Recantation or Declaration he added these words Good Christians I take God to record that I never preached any thing to you in my Life but the Truth And so in short gave himself the Lie and overthrew all the Recantation he had made before The latter end of the Year there was a Convocation Wherein one of the Matters before them was concerning the procuring a true Translation of the New Testament Which was indeed intended not so much to do such a good Work as to hinder it For having decried the present Translation on purpose to make it unlawful for any to use it they pretended to set themselves about a new One But it was merely to delay and put off the People from the common use of the Scripture As appeared plainly enough in that the Bishops themselves undertook it And so having it in their own Hands they might make what delays they pleased For in the third Session a Proposition was made for the Translation and an Assignation to each Bishop of his Task As Matthew to the Arch-bishop of Canterbury Mark to the Bishop of Lincoln Luke to Winton Iohn to Ely and so of the rest But the Arch-bishop saw through all this And therefore in a Sessions that followed after told the House from the King to whom I suppose he had discovered this Intrigue that the Translation should be left to the Learned of both Universities This was a Surprize to the Bishops who all except Ely and S. David's protested against it and began to undervalue the Sufficiency of the Universities as much decayed of late and that they were but young Men and that the greatest Learning lay in the Convocation-men But the Arch-bishop roundly said that he would stick by his Master's Will and Pleasure and that the Vniversities should examine the Translation Bishops Consecrated May 29 being Sunday William Knight was Consecrated Bishop of Bath and Wells by Nicolas Bishop of Rochester by Virtue of the Arch-bishop's Letters to him assisted by Richard Suffragan of Dover and Iohn Suffragan of Bedford in the Chappel of the said Bishop of Bath's House situate in the Minories without Aldgate September the 25 th Iohn Wakeman late Abbot of Teuksbury was Consecrated the first Bishop of Glocester by the Arch-bishop Edmond Bishop of London and Thomas Bishop of Westminster assisting Iohn Chambre B. D. was Consecrated first Bishop of Peterburgh Octob. 23. in the Cathedral Church of Peterburgh in the Presbytery there by Iohn Bishop of Lincoln Thomas Bishop of Ely and William Bishop of Norwich by Commission from the Arch-bishop February the 19 th Arthur Bulkeley in the Chappel of Iohn Incent LL. D. Dean of St. Paul's by Iohn Bishop of Sarum by virtue of Letters Commissional from the Arch-bishop William Bishop of St. David's and Iohn Bishop of Glocester assisting Robert King another Abbot and Titular Bishop Reonen Suffragan to the Bishop of Lincoln was this Year Consecrated Bishop of Oxford The Date or his Consecrators I cannot assign the Act being omitted in the Arch-bishop's Register He was first a Monk of Rewly a Priory without Oxford of the Cistertian Order Then Abbot of Bruerne in Oxfordshire After Abbot of Thame of which he was also called Bishop and lastly of Oseney Both which he surrendred to the King at the dissolution of Monasteries This Man when Suffragan preached at S. Mary's in Stamford where he most fiercely inveighed against such as used the New Testament In Q. Mary's Reign he was a persecutor of the Protestants and died 1557. CHAP. XXIV The King's Book revised THE Arch-bishop was this Year among other things employed in the King's Book as it now was called that is The Erudition of any Christian Man spoken of before For the King was minded now to have it well reviewed and if there were any Errors and less proper Expressions to have them corrected and amended And so to have it recommended unto the People as a compleat Book of Christian Principles in the stead of the Scripture which upon pretence of their abuse of the King would not allow longer to be read Accordingly a Correction was made throughout the Book and the correct Copy sent to Cranmer to peruse Which he did and added his own Annotations upon various Passages in it at good length And had it not been too long I had transcribed it wholly out of a Volume in the Benet-College Library But for a taste take this that follows In the Title under his own Hand was this written Animadversions upon the King's Book Vpon the Chapter of Original Sin For the first Offence of our Father Adam No Man shall be damned for the Offences of Adam
but for his own proper Offences either Actual or Original Which Original Sin every Man hath of his own and is born in it although it came from Adam The principal means viz. God's Favour whereby all Sinners attain their Iustification This Sentence importeth that the Favour and Love of the Father of Heaven towards us is the Means whereby we come to his Favour and Love And so should one thing be the Means to it self And it is not the use of Scripture to call any other the Means and Mediator for us but only Jesus Christ by whom our access is to the Father Having assured Hope and Confidence in Christ's Mercy willing to enter into his perfect Faith He that hath assured Hope and Confidence in Christ's Mercy hath already entred into a perfect Faith and not only hath a Will to enter into it For perfect Faith is nothing else but assured Hope and Confidence in Christ's Mercy Vpon the Explication of the Tenth Commandment Without due Recompence This Addition agrees not well with the Coveting of another Man's Wife wherein is no Recompensation And in the other things although Recompensation be made yet the Commandment nevertheless is transgrest and broken Vpon another Chapter concerning Obedience to the Civil Power By his Ordinate Power This word Ordinate Power obscureth the Sentence in the understanding of them that be simple and unlearned and among the Learned it gendreth Contention and Disputation rather than it any thing edifieth Therefore methinketh it better and more plain as it is in the print or else to say By his Ordinance For the Scripture speaketh simply and plainly Potestati ejus quis resistit By these few Passages which I have carefully taken out of the Arch-bishop's own Book may be seen of what a Critical and Exact Judgment he was But besides these Adversaria in these Papers of the Arch-bishop's Annotations there be divers large Discourses of his upon several Heads of Religion drawn up as I conceive upon the King's Command to be inserted into his Book above mentioned I have extracted some of these Discourses as upon Faith Justification and Forgiveness of Injuries Wherein may be seen his sound Opinion in those great Doctrines of Christian Religion I took also out of the same Volume some Specimen of three other Discourses of his One with this Title writ by his own Hand De Consolatione Christianorum contra metum mortis Ex Doctoribus Ecclesiasticis Compiled I guess as well for his own use being not inapprehensive of his ticklish Station and Danger from so many and implacable Enemies which he had as to be inserted in the aforesaid Book The others were two Exhortations to take the Pains of Sickness well and Adversity patiently the one taken out of Cyprian the other out of S. Augustin Lib. De visitatione infirmorum The Specimen of them are in the Appendix as also the Discourses of Faith Justification and Forgiveness of Injuries This Year Boner Bishop of London set forth Injunctions for the Clergy of his Diocess containing Directions for their Preaching and Conversation together with a Catalogue of certain Books prohibited Which the Curats were to enquire after in their respective Parishes and to inform their Ordinaries of them and of those in whose possessions they found them Among these Books were the English Testament of Tindal and divers other Pieces of the said godly and learned Man some Prefaces and Marginal Glosses of Thomas Matthews in his English Bible A Book of Friar Barnes The Supplication of Beggars The Practice of Prelates The Revelation of Antichrist The Church of Iohn Rastal The Disputation between the Father and the Son The Preface made in the English Primers by Marshal This Marshal was he I suppose whose Christian Name was Cutbert and was D. D. and Arch-deacon of Nottingham and died about 1549. At this Book I will stop a little being a Book of Eminency and Remark in those Times and that hath such a strain of Truth and serious Piety in it that it seems very probable that the Arch-bishop had a considerable hand it and procured the Publication of it Cum privilegio Regali It was stiled A Goodly Primer or Book of Prayers and called The King's Primer I speak of the second Edition which was about the Year 1535. It began with an Admonition to the Reader containing very sharp and severe Reflections upon the Popish Devotions and praying to Saints And towards the conclusion the Writer professeth That this his Admonition proceded neither of blynde Zele or Affection neyther of Wyll or Purpose to offend or displease any Man moch less than to displease any Saint in Heven and in no wyse than our blessed Lady but evin of very pure Love to the Honour of God and Helth of Mennes Souls Then followeth a pious Exposition of the Ten Commandments and the Creed Then is a general Confession of Sin Which goes according to the Commandments after this manner 1. I have not set my whole Belief Confidence Trust and Hope in thee c. 2. I have divided thy Worship and Honour from Thee and given it to thy Creatures and to dead things imagined of my own fond Fantasy I mean in the misusing of Images 3. I have abased thy Name c. 4. In the Sabbath-day I have not given my self to hearing reading and learning the Holy Scriptures c. Then comes an Exposition upon the Lord's Prayer and the Salutation Some short Prayers Some Graces before and after Meat most of which are Graces still retained in our English Primers after the Catechism And the Method of the Book is the same with our Childrens Primer now in use In this Edition there was a Litany added with a Preface before it directly against praying to Saints and shewing the difference of the Case between presenting our Petitions to God and presenting a Petition to an Earthly King that though this latter cannot be done without the mediation of some Servant of the King yet the former may be done immediately to God in the Name of Christ. Besides he said there were many doubtful Saints that many Saints canonized by the Bishop of Rome whether they were Saints or no he committed to the secret Judgment of God By this taste of the Preface you easily see why Bishop Boner placed it among the prohibited Books to be diligently searched for The Litany the Author added for the sake of many People that thought there could be no right Prayers without they were in the old form of Processions which were by way of Litany or Supplication to Angels and Saints And so he writ in this Preface that it was for the Contentation of such weak Minds and somewhat to bear their Infirmities that he had at this his second Edition of the Primer caused the Litany to be printed In this Litany all doubtful Saints are left out and he addresseth only to the Holy Angels S. Michael S. Raphael c. to pray for us And the Blessed
as were contrary to the King's Injunctions But notwithstanding Willoughby got himself excused and delivered them not but the Prebendaries soon after Easter did The Articles are not specified in the Papers I use but by the Interrogatories and other Passages it appears that some of them were these that follow That he rebuked Serles for that he preached that Images might be permitted in the Church as Representatives of Saints and not be Idols Item That the Arch-bishop spake openly before all the Prebendaries and Preachers in Consistory that the King's Pleasure was to have the Six Preachers consist of three of the New Learning and three of the Old Item That Serles and Shether underwent Censure laid upon them by the Arch-bishop for somewhat they had preached when the Honesty of their Audience offered themselves to testify that they were falsely accused and that that which was laid against them was not true and although they were a great Number yet they could not be admitted That they were Innocent Preachers and being Innocent were condemned the one to Prison and the other to read a Declaration of false surmised Articles Item That those that would speak against evil Opinions dared not for if they did they were complained of and called Seditious Persons stirring the People to Commotion and complaining to their Ordinary they got nothing but displeasure and the evil Preachers had much more Favour and Boldness Item That there were two Images of Christ and two of our Lady that were taken down whereunto was neither Oblation nor any Lights standing before them Other Articles which were of Serles his own collecting as appears by the Interrogatories that Cranmer under his own hand had prepared to put to him were such as these and were chiefly against the Arch-bishop's Commissary That there were a great number of evil Preachers in Canterbury Diocess That the Arch-bishop's Commissary Dr. Leigh in his Visitation commanded that the Wax-Candles blessed upon Candlemass-day should not be delivered unto the People That Holy-Water should not be born nor cast into Mens Houses That in some Churches by the Commissaries command all the Images were pulled down and hewed with Axes That the Commissary was most conversant with Abjured Persons and other suspect of Heresy aiding maintaining and succouring them That Ioanna Bochier was delivered by the Favour of the Commissary Whereas indeed she was by the King's Pardon This is she that was afterwards burnt for Arianism in King Edward's Days That one Giles came to Canterbury in a Courtier 's Coat and a Beard being a Priest and there lodged ten Days And one Hardes a Justice complained of him to the Commissary but the Commissary did nothing Whereas in truth he was not a Priest but a Lay-man That a Taylor in Canterbury did openly read and expound the Scripture in his own House and open resort thither was suffered by the Commissary That the Master of S. Iohn's in Canterbury at his Death refused to receive and despised the Blessed Sacrament and yet by the Sufferance of the Commissary was both buried like a true Christian and also was of very many praised for a good and holy Man That Mr. Bland in communication with Mr. Sponer Vicar of Boughton denied Auricular Confession to be requisite and delivered his Opinion to the said Sponer in Writing Which the Commissary hearing desired Sponer to let him see the Writing swearing that he would not keep it from him But when he had the Bill he put it into his Purse That the Commissary resigned a Benefice to the said Bland binding Bland and his Successor by a Writing made under the Hand of my Lord of Canterbury and the Chapter to pay unto him and his Assigns a great part of the clear yearly Value for many Years This was the Sum of Serles's Articles but most of them were found to be frivolous and false Articles yet more against our Arch-bishop were That he held a constant correspondence with Germany sending Letters thither and receiving Letters thence That he gave out a great many Exhibitions in Germany and had many Pensioners there In relation to which there seemed to be a design carrying on that the Bishop of Winchester should seize some of these Letters of the Arch-bishop For Gardiner told him whose Hands they past through namely one Fuller of Canterbury and that if the said Bishop would send for him and command him upon his Allegiance he should know more Or at least that he might make use of Fuller for a Witness to serve to prove this Article Moreover they put in their Articles That his Grace's Sister was a Milner's Wife and that She and her Husband lived nine or ten Years together in Canterbury And then that She married to one Mr. Bingham her former Husband being yet alive and that Mr. Commissary married her Daughter And though he were thus a married Priest yet he was joined with Mr. Dean Wotton to be one of the Proctors of the Clergy in the Convocation-house and not of their Election but that it was obtained by the Interest of his Affinity The chief Witnesses and Persons concerned as Vouchers and Informers were Roper Balthazar a Chirurgion Heywood Moor Beckinsal German Gardiner At length after much adoe some of the Prebendaries in the Name of the Church of Canterbury delivered into the Council not long after Easter the Articles swelled to a good Quantity of Paper And so they came at last into the King's Hand Having received them he bade Baker the Chancellor of the Court of Augmentation a Kentish Man being one of the Privy-Council and a Privado in this Matter to send to Canterbury for some to prove the Articles The said Chancellor orders the Dean ignorant of the Matter to send to Shether Serles to come up as secretly as might be to London Being come up Shether repairs to the Dean Who â—ad him with Gardiner and Parkhurst to go to the Chancellor who sent for them Being come before him he said to them That the King had a Book against the Arch-bishop delivered to him which he had himself perused And because that he perceived that they could say somewhat wishing also for Serles who was not yet come he told them the King willed them to say what they knew fearing no Person but to dread only one God and one King Whereupon they took the Book and drew out such Articles as they could witness of He bad them return to Canterbury and provide the Witnesses there and that Shether the youngest should come back again after he had perfected the Book in the Day and Year and to bring it with him From him they applied again to the Bishop of Winchester the great Wheel and shewed him what Baker had said to them CHAP. XXVII The King the Arch-bishop's Friend in this Danger THE King well perceiving the Malice of the Men and a Plot contrived against an honest and innocent Man strengthned with the Favour and Aid of Winchester
joined who afterwards was burnt for his constancy in Religion These new Commissioners startled the Delinquents and they began to be very uneasy and full of Anger as well as Fear One cried Thank my Lord's Grace that is a way to have Quietness in Kent to have Dr. Legh there Of Dr. Taylor they said he was a Man of an evil Judgment and notified for and brought up in the same And another reflecting upon these Men said I would all Ambitious Knaves were hang'd I would all maintainers of new Opinions were hang'd I would all Knaves that break Orders were hang'd I would all Knaves that are against the Common-Wealth were hang'd Hussey the Register who had the Examinations of these Men had private Conferences with them and let Serles and Sandwich alias Gardiner have the Copies of their Accusations before they were to be called before Legh that they might the better know what Answers to make But to proceed to see what Course Dr. Legh took Immediately upon his coming according to the King's Advice he gave Commission to about nine or ten of the Arch-bishop's Officers and Gentlemen such as were tried Men of Wit and Audacity to go and search the Purses Chests and Houses of certain Prebendaries and Gentlemen viz. such as were deemed or suspected to be of this Confederacy within the Cathedral Church and without and what Letters and Writings they could find with them to bring to the Arch-bishop and him They all went about their Work in the same Hour and within four Hours after the whole Conspiracy was discovered by finding of Letters some from the Bishop of Winchester some from Dr. London at Oxon and from Justices of the Shire In the Chambers and Chests of some Gentlemen of the County were found Letters serving to that purpose And among the rest there came to the Arch-bishop's Hand two Letters one of Thornton and the other of Dr. Barber whom the ABp retained with him in Houshold for expedition of Matters in Suit before him being his Officer and as a Counsellor to him in the Law when need required Both promoted by him Thornton who was Suffragan of Dover he made Prebendary of his Church and whom he always set at his own Mess. The Arch-bishop taking them a-part shewed them their Letters and upbraided them with their Falseness and Ingratitude They fell down on their Knees to the Arch-bishop and with many Tears begged his Pardon acknowledging that they had been a Year ago tempted to do what they had done The Arch-bishop before them casting up his Hands to Heaven applied himself to God thanking him that he had in the midst of so many Enemies and false Friends vouchsafed him one great Friend and Master meaning the King without whose Protection as he said he were not able to stand upright one Day He prayed God to make them good Men and bad them ask God forgiveness seeing he had never deserved such usage at their Hands He added that now he perceived there was no Fidelity nor Truth among Men and that he was brought to that Point that he feared his left Hand would accuse his Right But that he needed not to marvel at it seeing Christ prophesied of such a World to come in the latter Days He prayed God of his Mercy to finish that Time shortly and so dismist them with gentle and comfortable words And it was observed that there never after appeared neither in his Countenance nor his Words any remembrance thereof But he thought fit no more to trust them and so discharged them of his Service And so he did one Mr. Talbot another false Man which was also of his Counsel and Chamber But Dr. London took occasion hence to say That they could tell a shrewd Tale if they were examined and that it was not for nought they were put out of Service as tho the reason were that they should no more have opportunity of knowing any of the Arch-bishop's Doings or Sayings All the foresaid seized Papers and Writings were put into a Chest and brought up to Lambeth the King being minded to peruse them and to punish the Principals In fine divers of the chief of the Knot were committed to Prison where they remained till the next Year some more closely confined than others all during the Arch-bishop's Pleasure All that the Arch-bishop required of them was Repentance and Recantation and an ingenuous confession of their Faults and Falseness to him Abiding for some time under Affliction their Spirits began to mollify and then by supplicatory Letters to the Arch-bishop they begged his Pardon made their Confessions and desired their Liberty About which time a Parliament was at hand Then great labour was made by their Friends for a General Pardon from the King procuring him a Subsidy the easier to obtain it Which indeed followed and wiped away all Punishment and Correction for their Fault But without the King's Indulgence they were like suddenly to have had their Liberty by the Arch-bishop's Intercession for them being a Man that delighted not in revenge In the before-mentioned Manuscript Volume belonging to Benet-College whence I have extracted most of these Relations are remaining the Interrogatories prepared for Dr. London wrote by the Arch-bishop's own Hand together with the humble Confessions and Letters of Willoughby Gardiner Serles Milles Sentleger and others concerned Some of which I have transcribed into the Appendix Gardiner's Expressions seemed so penitent stiling the Arch-bishop his Father that it made such an Impression upon the Arch-bishop's Heart that when he saw him next he told him Ye call me Father in good Faith I will be a Father to you indeed Yet this very Man so ingrateful he was that soon after this kind Reconciliation of the Arch-bishop to him and as it seems his deliverance out of Prison he and the rest had fresh Communications together again Insomuch that the Arch-bishop was fain to enter upon a new trouble with them putting them under Restraint again and interrogating them concerning their late Communication Unless this Letter of Gardiner writ unto his Grace may admit of a more favourable Interpretation MOST honourable Father Unadvisedly as God shall save me I have offended your Grace and I think not the contrary but that some back Friend hath done me more hurt and hindrance than I have at your Grace's Hands deserved For I know well in mine own Conscience I have nothing so highly offended as I do perceive that your Grace is informed of me In good Faith I speak it of my Conscience and before God I would I were under Ground For now have I lost that which I never thought to lose again Yea that of which had I was as glad as ever I was of Benefit received in this World as knoweth my Saviour Christ Jesus Who preserve your Grace Yours VVill. Gardiner But while these things were transacted at Canterbury on the Arch-bishop's behalf against these false Accusers Dr. London
one of the great Incendiaries was censured at Windsor For he and one Symons a Lawyer and Ockham that laid Traps for others were catch'd at length themselves They were Men that busied themselves in framing Indictments upon the six Articles against great Numbers of those that favoured or professed the Gospel and in sending them to Court to Winchester who was to prefer the Complaints to the Council The King being more and more informed of their base Conspiracies and disliking their bloody Dispositions commanded the Council should search into the Matters And so London and his Fellows being examined before the said Council were in the end found to be perjured in denying upon their Oaths what they had indeed done and was proved manifestly to their Faces Hereupon they were adjudged perjured Persons and appointed to ride through Windsor Reading and Newbery where they had done most Mischief with their Faces towards the Horse-Tail and a Paper upon their Heads declaring their Crime and to stand upon the Pillory in each of those Towns And that Punishment they underwent and then were sent to the Fleet. London not long after died there probably out of Shame and Sorrow This was the End of one of these Conspirators German Gardiner was a Year after hanged drawn and quartered as a Traitor for denying the King's Supremacy And the Bishop of Winchester after this never had Favour or Regard of the King more And Heywood another of the Crew of the Informers and Witnesses was condemned for Treason with Gardiner but making a Recantation his Life was spared CHAP. XXVIII The Arch-bishop falls into more Troubles AFter this the Arch-bishop received two terrible Shocks more if I am right in the placing them as I think I am though I leave Fox to follow Morice the Arch-bishop's Secretary in his Manuscript Declaration of the said Arch-bishop The former was a Complaint that was made openly against him in Parliament and the latter when the Lords of the Privy-Council accused him unto the King and required that he should be sent to the Tower Sir Iohn Gostwick a Knight for Bedforshire a Man of great Service in his Time but Papistical stood up in the House and laid to his Charge his Sermons and Lectures both at Sandwich and Canterbury containing as he said manifest Heresy against the Sacrament of the Altar Though it was much they should accuse him in that Point seeing he then held a Corporal Presence but it displeased them that it was after the Lutheran way rather than after theirs of Transubstantiation But the King perceived easily this proceeded of Malice for that he was a Stranger in Kent and had neither heard the Arch-bishop preach nor read there Knowing thereby that he was set on and made an Instrument to serve other Mens Purposes the King marvellously stormed at the Matter calling Gostwick openly Varlet and said That he had plaid a villanous part to abuse in open Parliament the Primate of the Realm especially being in Favour with his Prince as he was What will they do with him said he if I were gone Whereupon the King sent word unto Gostwick by one of his Privy-Chamber after this sort Tell the Varlet Gostwick That if he do not acknowledg his Fault unto my Lord of Canterbury and so reconcile himself towards him that he may become his good Lord I will soon both make him a poor Gostwick and otherwise punish him to the Example of others He wondred he said he could hear my Lord of Canterbury preaching out of Kent And that if he had been a Kentish-Man he might have had some more shadow to put up an Accusation against him Now Gostwick hearing of this grievous Threat came with all possible speed unto Lambeth and there submitted himself in such sorrowful case that my Lord out of hand not only forgave all his Offences but also went directly unto the King for the obtaining of the King's Favour which he obtained very hardly and upon condition that the King might hear no more of his meddling that way This happened I suppose in the Parliament that began in Ianuary and continued till March 29. 1544. The Arch-bishop's Palace at Canterbury was this Year burnt and therein his Brother-in-Law and other Men according to Stow. I find no Bishops Consecrated in this Year At length the Confederacy of the Papists in the Privy-Council whereof I suspect the Duke of Norfolk to be one a great Friend of Winchester's by whose Instigation this Design was set on Foot came and accused him most grievously unto the King That he with his Learned Men had so infected the whole Realm with their unsavoury Doctrine that three parts of the Land were become abominable Hereticks And that it might prove dangerous to the King being like to produce such Commotions and Uproars as were sprung up in Germany And therefore they desired that the Arch-bishop might be committed unto the Tower until he might be examined The King was very strait in granting this They told him That the Arch-bishop being one of the Privy-Council no Man dared to object Matter against him unless he were first committed to durance Which being done Men would be bold to tell the Truth and say their Consciences Upon this Pâ—rswasion of theirs the King granted unto them that they should call him the next Day before them and as they saw cause so to commit him to the Tower At Midnight about Eleven of the Clock before the Day he should appear before the Council the King sent Mr. Denny to my Lord at Lambeth willing him incontinently to come over to VVestminster to him The Arch-bishop was in Bed but rose straitway and repaired to the King whom he found in the Gallery at VVhitehall Being come the King declared unto him what he had done in giving Liberty to the Council to commit him to Prison for that they bare him in hand that he and his learned Men had sown such Doctrine in the Realm that all Men almost were infected with Heresy and that no Man durst bring Matter against him being at Liberty and one of the Council And therefore I have granted to their Request said the King but whether I have done well or no what say you my Lord The Arch-bishop first humbly thanked the King that it had pleased him to give him that warning before-hand And that he was very well content to be committed to the Tower for the trial of his Doctrine so that he might be indifferently heard as he doubted not but that his Majesty would see him so to be used Whereat the King cried out O Lord God what fond Simplicity have you so to permit your self to be imprisoned that every Enemy of yours may take Advantage against you Do not you know that when they have you once in Prison three or four false Knaves will soon be procured to witness against you and condemn you which else now being at Liberty dare not once open their Lips or appear before
your Face No not so my Lord said the King I have better regard unto you than to permit your Enemies so to overthrow you And therefore I will have you to Morrow come to the Council which no doubt will send for you And when they break this Matter unto you require them that being one of them you may have so much Favour as they would have themselves that is to have your Accusers brought before you And if they stand with you without regard of your Allegations and will in no Condition condescend unto your Request but will needs commit you to the Tower then appeal you from them to our Person and give to them this my Ring which he then delivered unto the Arch-bishop by the which said the King they shall well understand that I have taken your Cause into my Hand from them Which Ring they well know that I use it for no other Purpose but to call Matters from the Council into mine own Hands to be ordered and determined And with this good Advice Cranmer after most humble Thanks departed from the King's Majesty The next Morning according to the King's Monition and his own Expectation the Council sent for him by Eight of the Clock in the Morning And when he came to the Council-Chamber-Door he was not permitted to enter into the Council-Chamber but stood without among Serving-men and Lacquies above three quarters of an hour many Counsellors and others going in and out The Matter seemed strange unto his Secretary who then attended upon him which made him slip away to Dr. Butts to whom he related the manner of the thing Who by and by came and kept my Lord Company And yet e're he was called into the Council Dr. Butts went to the King and told him that he had seen a strange Sight What is that said the King Marry said he my Lord of Canterbury is become a Lacquey or a Serving-man For to my knowledg he hath stood among them this hour almost at the Council-Chamber-Door Have they served my Lord so It is well enough said the King I shall talk with them by and by Anon Cranmer was called into the Council there it was declared unto him That a great Complaint was made of him both to the King and to them That he and others by his Permission had infected the whole Realm with Heresy And therefore it was the King's Pleasure that they should commit him to the Tower and there for his Trial to be examined Cranmer required as is before declared with many both Reasons and Perswasions that he might have his Accusers come there before them before they used any further Extremity against him In fine there was no Intreaty could serve but that he must needs depart to the Tower I am sorry my Lords said Cranmer that you drive me unto this Exigent to appeal from you to the King's Majesty who by this Token hath resumed this Matter into his own Hand and dischargeth you thereof And so delivered the King's Ring unto them By and by the Lord Russel swore a great Oath and said Did not I tell you my Lords what would come of this Matter I know right well that the King would never permit my Lord of Canterbury to have such a Blemish as to be imprisoned unless it were for High-Treason And so as the manner was when they had once received that Ring they left off their Matter and went all unto the King's Person both with his Token and the Cause When they came unto his Highness the King said unto them Ah my Lords I thought that I had had a discreet and wise Council but now I perceive that I am deceived How have you handled here my Lord of Canterbury What make ye of him A Slave Shutting him out of the Council-Chamber among Serving-men Would ye be so handled your selves And after such taunting words as these spoken the King added I would you should well understand that I account my Lord of Canterbury as faithful a Man towards me as ever was Prelate in this Realm and one to whom I am many ways beholden by the Faith I owe unto God and so laid his Hand upon his Breast And therefore who loveth me said he will upon that Account regard him And with these words all and especially my Lord of Norfolk answered and said We meant no manner of Hurt unto my Lord of Canterbury that we requested to have him in Durance Which we only did because he might after his Trial be set at Liberty to his greater Glory Well said the King I pray you use not my Friends so I perceive now well enough how the World goeth among you There remaineth Malice among you one to another let it be avoided out of hand I would advise you And so the King departed and the Lords shook Hands every Man with the Arch-bishop Against whom never more after durst any Man spurn during King Henry's Life And because the King would have Love always nourished between the Lords of the Council and the Arch-bishop he would send them divers times to Dinner with him And so he did after this Reconciliation Thus did the King interpose himself divers times between his Arch-bishop and his irreconcileable Enemies the Papists and observing by these Essays against him under what Perils he was like to come hereafter for his Religion about this Time it was as I conjecture that the King changed his Coat of Arms. For unto the Year 1543 he bore his Paternal Coat of Three Cranes Sable as I find by a Date set under his Arms yet remaining in a Window in Lambeth-House For it is to be noted That the King perceiving how much ado Cranmer would have in the Defence of his Religion altered the Three Cranes which were parcel of his Ancestors Arms into Three Pelicans declaring unto him That those Birds should signify unto him that he ought to be ready as the Pelican is to shed his Blood for his young Ones brought up in the Faith of Christ. For said the King you are like to be tasted if you stand to your Tackling at length As in very deed many and sundry times he was shouldered at both in this King's Reign as you have heard and under the two succeding Princes CHAP. XXIX Occasional Prayers and Suffrages OCcasional Prayers and Suffrages to be used throughout all Churches began now to be more usual than formerly For these common Devotions were twice this Year appointed by Authority as they had been once the last which I look upon the Arch-bishop to be the great Instrument in procuring That he might by this means by little and little bring into use Prayer in the English Tongue which he so much desired and that the People by understanding part of their Prayers might be the more desirous to have their whole Service rendred intelligible whereby God might be served with the more Seriousness and true Devotion The last Year there was a plentiful Crop upon the Ground
But when the Time of Harvest drew near there happened a great Plague of Rain So in August Letters were issued out from the King to the Arch-bishop that he should appoint certâ—in Prayers to be used for the ceasing of the Wet-weather and to write to the rest of the Province to do the like But hear the King's Letter MOST Reverend Father in God right Trusty and right intirely Beloved We greet you well And forasmuch as there hath been now a late and still continueth much Rain and other unseasonable Weather whereby is like to ensue great Hurt and Damage to the Corn and Fruits now ripe upon the Ground unless it shall please God of his infinite Goodness to stretch forth his holy Hand over us Considering by sundry Examples heretofore that God at the Contemplation of earnest and devout Prayers oftentimes extended his Mercy and Grace and hath also assuredly promised that whensoever we call upon him for Things meet for us he will grant unto us the same We having the Governance and Charge of his People committed unto Us have thought good to cause the same to be exhorted by You and other the Prelats of this our Realm with an earnest repentant Heart for their Iniquities to call unto God for Mercy and with devout and humble Prayer and Supplication every Person both by himself apart and also by Common-Prayer to beseech him to send unto us such seasonable and temperate Weather to have in those Fruits and Corn on the Ground which hitherto he hath caused so plenteously to grow For the which purpose we require you and nevertheless command you to send unto all your Brethren the Bishops within your Province to cause such general Rogations and Processions to be made incontinently within their Diocesses as in case like heretofore hath been accustomed in this behalf accordingly Yevon under our Signet at our Manor of the Moor the 20 th Day of August the XXXV Year of our Reign The Arch-bishop accordingly sent his Order dated August 23. 1543. to Edmond Bishop of London that there might be Prayers and Supplications in his Diocess every Fourth and Sixth Days of the Week And the like Order was dispatched to all the other Bishops in his Province By their Prayers as was accustomed to implore God's Mercy to avert his Wrath that the People had justly deserved And not to cease their Prayers and Suffrages till further Order from him It is not so evident that these Prayers were in the English Tongue But in the Year following viz. 1544. there were without Controversy certain Suffrages drawn up in our Mother-Tongue by the Arch-bishop's means which he intended to be universally observed every where Upon the Arch-bishop's pious Motions as it seems the King issued out his Letters to him dated in Iune for the publication of these Prayers in English to be from thenceforth continually used in the Church together with setting forth the King's Injunctions by Preaching and good Exhortation that the People who before did but slackly observe their Devotions for want of understanding the Divine Service might henceforth more frequently and more fervently resort to religious Worship I shall not here set down the King's Letter as I transcribed it out of Arch-bishop Cranmer's Register because Bishop Burnet hath printed it already in his first Volume among the Collections pag. 264. It runs in such a pious strain as tho none but the Arch-bishop had been the Suggestor thereof That since at that time Christendom was plagued with Wars Hatred and Dissensions and in no Place was Peace and Agreement and since it was out of the Power of Man to redress these Miseries God alone being able to restore Peace and unite Mens Hearts Therefore the King was resolved to have general Processions used in all Churches with all Reverence and Devotion of the People And because the not understanding the Prayers and Suffrages formerly used caused that the People came but slackly to the Processions therefore the King now had published certain Prayers in our Native Tongue Which he with his present Letter had sent to the Arch-bishop for the special Trust and Confidence he had of his Godly Mind and the earnest desire that was in him for the setting forth of God's Glory and the true worshipping of his Name And that these Prayers should not be observed for a Month or two as his other Injunctions had been but that they together with the Injunctions should be earnestly set forth by Preaching good Exhortation and otherwise in such sort as they might feel the Godly Taste thereof and godly and joyously with Thanks receive embrace and frequent the same Commanding the Arch-bishop that he should not only cause the same Suffrages to be used in his own Diocess but signify the King's Pleasure in this regard to all other Bishops of his Province And that he should have a special respect hereunto and make report if any did not with good dexterity accomplish the same It was given under the King's Signet at his Manor of S. Iames's Iune 11. in the 36 th of his Reign I have not met with these Suffrages which if I had I should have been enclined to publish them here and the rather because I believe they were of Cranmer's own composing According to this Letter the Arch-bishop dispersed his Letters to Edmund Bishop of London and the other Bishops with a Copy of the Suffrages to be used urging withal the observation of all the King's Injunctions heretofore promulgated for the confirming and establishing of Sacred Religion About August this Year the King was upon going himself in Person to invade France against which Nation he was now in Hostility and had prepared a mighty Army by Land and Sea for that purpose Now the Arch-bishop was again called upon by the Privy-Counsellors to appoint Processions in the English Tongue through the Realm for the King 's good Success in this great Expedition The Councils Letter ran in this Tenor. AFTER our right-hearty Commendations to your good Lordship These shall be to signify to the same That the King's Highness having so provided for the Safety of his Grace's Realm as the great Malice of his Enemies shall by the Grace of God take small effect For the repulsing of which his Highness hath in a readiness to set abroad at the furthest on Wednesday next such a puissant Navy as hath not been seen assembled in the remembrance of Man Considering nevertheless that all Victories and good Successes come only at the Direction and Appointment of God following herein that Trade of such a Christian Prince as he is hath devised to have Processions throughout the Realm in such sort as in like Cases hath heretofore laudably been accustomed Requiring your Lordship therefore to take Order incontinently that from henceforth through your Province the said Processions be kept continually upon the accustomed Days and none otherwise and sung or said as the number of the Quoire shall serve for the
same in the English Tongue to the intent that there may be an Uniformity in every Place Whereby it may please God at all times to prosper his Majesty in all his Affairs And the rather to have regard at this time unto the Uprightness of his Grace's Quarrel and to send his Highness victorious Success of the same And thus we bid your Lordship most heartily well to fare From Petworth the 10 th Day of August Your Lordship's assured loving Friends W. Essex St. Wynton Ant. Brown Will. Paget The Copy of this Letter the Arch-bishop dispatched to the Bishop of London and in a Letter of his own he first stirred him up to take care of making due Provisions for the religious Performance of these Prayers in his Diocess upon consideration of the King 's great Wars by Land and Sea and his Wars in France in Scotland and in the Parts about Bulloign Then he enjoined him and all the Bishops in his Province every Fourth and Sixth Day to retire to Prayer and Supplication to God and that the People should as he wrote Concinna modulatione una voce cunctipotentem Deum Sabaoth omnis Victoriae largitorem unicum sanctè piè non labiis sed corde puro adorent In becoming Harmony and with one Voice holily and piously not with the Lips but with a pure Heart adore the Almighty God of Sabaoth the only giver of all Victory And in these smaller Matters our Arch-bishop was fain now to be contented to busy himself since about this Juncture Winton or his Party had the Ascendent and did all at Court Concerning these latter Times of King Henry when the Popish Bishops carried all before them again and the Acts of Parliament that were made whereby the Bishops were empowred to call Sessions as oft as they would to try those that gave not due Obedience to the Superstitions of the Church and that upon pain of Treason Thus Iohn Bale complains whose Words may give us some light into the sad Condition of these Times Still remaineth there Soul-Masses of all Abominations the principal their prodigious Sacrifices their Censings of Idols their boyish Processions their uncommanded Worshippings and their Confessions in the Ear of all Traitery the Fountain with many other strange Observations which the Scripture of God knoweth not Nothing is brought as yet to Christ's clear Institution and sincere Ordinance but all remaineth still as the Antichrists left it Nothing is tried by God's Word but by the ancient Authority of Fathers Now passeth all under their Title Though the old Bishops of Rome were of late Years proved Antichrists and their Names razed out of our Books yet must they thus properly for old Acquaintance be called still Our Fathers If it were naught afore I think it is now much worse for now are they become laudable Ceremonies whereas before-time they were but Ceremonies alone Now are they become necessary Rites godly Constitutions seemly Vsages and civil Ordinances whereas afore they had no such Names And he that disobeyeth them shall not only be judged a Felon and worthy to be hanged by their new-forged Laws but also condemned for a Traitor against the King though he never in his Life hindred but rather to his Power hath forwarded the Common-Wealth To put this with such-like in Execution th◠Bishops have Authority every Month in the Year if they list to call a Session to Hang and Burn at their pleasure And this is ratified and confirmed by Act of Parliament to stand the more in Effect Gardiner Bishop of Winchester had by his Policy and Interest brought things thus backward again and exalted the Power of the Bishops that of late Years had been much eclipsed And so he plainly told one Seton a Man of Eminency in these Times both for Piety and Learning in London who met with Troubles there about the Year 1541 for a Sermon preached at S. Anthonies against Justification by Works This Seton being now it seems fallen into new Troubles and brought before the aforesaid Bishop when he was able no longer to withstand the manifest Truth said to him Mr. Seton we know ye are Learned and plenteously endued with Knowledg in the Scriptures yet think not that ye shall overcome us No no set your Heart at rest and look never to have it said that ye have overcome the Bishops For it shall not be so Robert Holgate Bishop of Landaff was this Year preferred to the See of York His Confirmation is mentioned in the Arch-bishop of Canterbury's Register Wherein is set down an Oath which he then took of Renunciation of the Pope and Acknowledgment of the King's Supremacy very full and large Afterwards I find the same Oath administred to Kitchin Elect of Landaff and Ridley Elect of Rochester and Farrar of S. Davids But I think it not unworthy to be here set down as I find it seeming to be a new Form drawn up to be henceforth taken by all Bishops And this Arch-bishop of York the first that took it I Robert Arch-bishop of York Elect having now the Vail of Darkness of the Usurped Power Authority and Jurisdiction of the See and Bishop of Rome clearly taken away from mine Eyes do utterly testify and declare in my Conscience that neither the See nor the Bishop of Rome nor any Foreign Potestate hath nor ought to have any Jurisdiction Power or Authority within this Realm neither by God's Law nor by any just Law or Means And though by Sufferance and Abusions in Time past they aforesaid have usurped and vindicated a feigned and unlawful Power and Jurisdiction within this Realm which hath been supported till few Years past Therefore because it might be deemed and thought thereby that I took or take it for Just and Good I therefore do now clearly and frankly renounce forsake refuse and relinquish that pretended Authority Power and Jurisdiction both of the See and Bishop of Rome and of all other Foreign Powers And that I shall never consent or agree that the foresaid See or Bp of Rome or any of their Successors shall practise exercise or have any manner of Authority Jurisdiction or Power within this Realm or any other the King's Realms or Dominions nor any Foreign Potestate of what State Degree or Condition he be but that I shall resist the same to the uttermost of my Power and that I shall bear Faith Troth and true Allegiance to the King's Majesty and to his Heirs and Successors declared or hereafter to be declared by the Authority of the Act made in the Sessions of his Parliament holden at Westminster the 14 th day of Ianuary in the 35 th Year and in the Act made in the 28 th Year of the King's Majesty's Reign And that I shall accept repute and take the King's Majesty his Heirs and Successors when they or any of them shall enjoy his Place to be the only Supream Head in Earth under God of the Church of England and
must be attributed to his being Abroad that the King gave an Ear to the Arch-bishop and apointed a Set of more moderate Bishops and Divines to prepare Matter for his Allowance and Ratification But VVinchester tho at a distance had Information of these Designs by his Intelligencers and by making the King believe that if he suffered any Innovations in Religion to proceed the Emperor would withdraw his Mediation for a League by these crafty Means of this Man these good Motions proceeded no further So that there were two Abuses in Religion which our Arch-bishop by Time and seasonable Inculcation brought the King off from He had a very great Esteem for Images in Churches and for the Worship used to the Cross. And many Disputations and Discourses happened between the King and the Arch-bishop concerning them Once at the King's Palace at Newhal in Essex Canterbury and Winchester being alone with the King a Talk happened about Images and the Arguments that were used for abolishing them were considered The Arch-bishop who built all his Arguments upon the Word of God produced the second Commandment and thence he raised his Argument But the King discussed it as a Commandment relating only to the Jews and not to us as VVinchester relates in one of his Letters to the Duke of Somerset adding because the reasoning was so much to his own Mind That the King so discussed it that all the Clerks in Christendom could not amend it And when at another time one had used Arguments against the Image of the Trinity whether Cranmer or some else I know not VVinchester heard the King answer them too So possess'd was the King once with an Opinion of retaining them and yet at length by the Arch-bishop's wise and moderate Carriage and Speeches the King was brought to another Opinion and to give his Orders for the abolishing of a great many of them namely of such as had been abused But when he had done this he would not forgo the other but commanded Kneeling and Creeping to the Cross. And gross was the Superstition that was committed in this blind Devotion which the King by the Arch-bishop's means being at length sensible of was prevailed with that this also should no more be used as you heard before There was one thing more this careful Arch-bishop recommended to the King this Year He was troubled for his Cathedral Church of Canterbury observing how the Revenues of it were diminished and made away daily by the Prebendaries thereof to satisfy the insatiable Greediness of the Laity and it may be their own too And the Courtiers and others were hard to be withstood when they were minded to rake from the Church The Practice was that when any were minded to get a Portion of Land from the Church they would first engage the King therein and so the Church was to make it over to him Anâ— then by Gift or for some trifling Consideration as a Sale it was conveyed to them from the King Nay sometimes they would use the King's Name without his knowledg Cranmer had the Honesty and the Courage to make Complaint of this Abuse and Injury done to the Revenues of the Cathedral That those of the Church to their Disquietment and also great Charges did alienate their Lands daily as it was said by the King's Commandment But he was sure he said that others had gotten the best Lands and not his Majesty Therefore he sued that when his Majesty was minded to have any of their Lands that they might have some Letters from him to declare his Pleasure without the which they were sworn to make no Alienation and that the same Alienations might not be made at other Mens Pleasures but only to his Majesty's Use. By which Means it is likely the Prebendaries had more quiet Possession of their Lands for the time to come By this Time the Arch-bishop had compassed two very good Things in order to the furthering the Common People in Knowledg and True Religion The one was that he brought in among the Laity a more common use of the Scriptures and the other that Sermons were more frequently preached than had been before But both these to the Grief of the Arch-bishop were sadly abused For now the Contending of Preachers in their Pulpits one against another grew more and more and became most scandalous So that few preached the Word of God truly and sincerely but ran almost wholly upon Matters controverted and in that railing manner that their Expressions were very provoking So that this came to the sowing of Discord among the People instead of promoting Love Unity and solid Religion The Laity on the other hand some of them railed much on the Bishops and spoke contemptibly of the Priests and taunted the Preachers The Scriptures were much read but the Effect of it appeared too much in their making use of it only for Jangling and Disputation upon Points of Religion and to taunt at the Ignorance or Error of Priests Others on the other hand to be even with the Gospellers made it their Business to derogate from the Scripture to deal with it irreverently and to rhime and sing and make sport with it in Ale-houses and Taverns These things came to King Henry's Ears which made him very earnestly blame both the Laity and Spirituality for it in a Speech which he made at the Dissolution of his Parliament this Year A Bishop Confirmed Anthony Kitchin alias Dunstan D.D. was Elected and Confirmed Bishop of Landaff May 2. The ABp sent his Commissional Letters dated the same Day to Thomas Bishop of Westminster for his Consecration But the Consecration is not entred in the Register His Oath to the King began thus I Anthony Kitchin Elect Bishop of Landaff having now the Vale of Darkness of the Usurped Power Authority and Jurisdiction of the See and Bishop of Rome clearly taken away from mine Eyes do utterly testify and declare in my Heart that neither the See nor the Bishop of Rome nor any Foreign Potestate hath or ought to have c. as before Another Proclamation was set out the next Year which was the last issued out under this King prohibiting again Tindal's and Coverdale's English New Testament or any other than what was permitted by Parliament and also the English Books of Wickliff Frith c. the King being vexed with the Contests and Clamours of the People one against another while they disputed so much of what they read and practised so little A small matter oftentimes creates great Brablings and Contentions in Fraternities Such a small thing now occurred in the Arch-bishop's Church Two of the Prebends were minded to change Houses but the rest it seems made some Opposition as reckoning it contrary to a certain Statute of that Church The Arch-bishop hearing hereof seasonably interposed and interpreted their Statute for them The Preachers also of this Church seem not to have been fairly dealt with by the Prebends
made of seven steps of height all round where the King's Majesty's Chair Royal stood and he sat therein after he was crowned all the Mass-while Fourthly At nine of the Clock all Westminster Choire was in their Copes and three goodly Crosses before them and after them other three goodly rich Crosses and the King's Chappel with his Children following all in Scarlet with Surplices and Copes on their Backs And after them ten Bishops in Scarlet with their Rochets and rich Copes on their Backs and their Mitres on their Heads did set forth at the West Door of Westminster towards the King's Palace there to receive his Grace and my Lord of Canterbury with his Cross before him alone and his Mitre on his Head And so past forth in order as before is said And within a certain space after were certain blew Cloths laid abroad in the Church-floor against the King's coming and so all the Palace even to York place Then is described the setting forward to Westminster Church to his Coronation Unction and Confirmation After all the Lords in order had kneeled down and kiss'd his Grace's right Foot and after held their Hands between his Grace's Hands and kiss'd his Grace's left Cheek and so did their Homage Then began a Mass of the Holy Ghost by my Lord of Canterbury with good singing in the Choire and Organs playing There at Offering time his Grace offered to the Altar a Pound of Gold a Loaf of Bread and a Chalice of Wine Then after the Levation of the Mass there was read by my Lord Chancellor in presence of all the Nobles a General Pardon granted by King Henry the Eighth Father to our Liege Lord the King that all shall be pardoned that have offended before the 28 th day of Ianuary last past When the King's Majesty with his Nobles came to the Place of the Coronation within a while after his Grace was removed into a Chair of Crimson Velvet and born in the Chair between two Noblemen unto the North-side of the Stage and shewed to the People and these words spoken to the People by my Lord of Canterbury in this manner saying Sirs here I present unto you K. Edward the rightful Inheritor to the Crown of this Realm Wherefore all ye that be come this Day to do your Homage Service and bounden Duty Be ye willing to do the same To the which all the People cried with a loud Voice and said Yea Yea Yea and cried King Edward and prayed God save King Edward And so to the South-side in like manner and to the East-side and to the West-side After this his Grace was born again to the high Altar in his Chair and there sat bare-headed And all his Nobles and Peers of the Realm were about his Grace and my Lord of Canterbury Principal And there made certain Prayers and Godly Psalms over his Grace and the Choire answered with goodly Singing the Organs playing and Trumpets blowing Then after a certain Unction Blessing and Signing of his Grace he was born into a Place by the high Altar where the Kings use always to kneel at the Levation of the Parliament-Mass And there his Grace was made ready of new Garments and after a certain space brought forth between two Noble-men and sat before the High Altar bare-headed Then after a while his Grace was anointed in the Breast his Soles of his Feet his Elbows his Wrists of his Hands and his Crown of his Head with vertuous Prayer said by the Bishop of Canterbury and sung by the Choire Then anon after this a goodly fair Cloth of red Tinsel Gold was hung over his Head And my Lord of Canterbury kneeling on his Knees and his Grace lying prostrate afore the Altar anointed his Back Then after this my Lord of Canterbury arose and stood up and the fair Cloth taken away Then my Lord Protector Duke of Somerset held the Crown in his Hand a certain space and immediately after began Te Deum with the Organs going the Choire singing and the Trumpets playing in the Battlements of the Church Then immediately after that was the Crown set on the King's Majesty's Head by them two viz. Somerset and the Arch-bishop of Canterbury And after that another Crown and so his Grace was crowned with three Crowns The Relation breaks off here abruptly But what is wanting may be supplied by the Order of the Coronation as Bishop Burnet hath taken it out of the Council-Book and given it us in his History At this Coronation there was no Sermon as I can find but that was supplied by an excellent Speech which was made by the Arch-bishop It was found among the inestimable Collections of Arch-bishop Vsher and though published of late Years yet I cannot but insert it here tending so much to illustrate the Memory of this great and good Arch-bishop MOST Dread and Royal Soveraign The Promises your Highness hath made here at your Coronation to forsake the Devil and all his Works are not to be taken in the Bishop of Rome's Sense when you commit any thing distastful to that See to hit your Majesty in the Teeth as Pope Paul the Third late Bishop of Rome sent to your Royal Father saying Didst thou not promise at our permission of thy Coronation to forsake the Devil and all his Works and dost thou run to Heresy For the Breach of this thy Promise knowest thou not that 't is in our Power to dispose of thy Sword and Scepter to whom we please We your Majesty's Clergy do humbly conceive that this Promise reacheth not at your Highness Sword Spiritual or Temporal or in the least at your Highness swaying the Scepter of this your Dominion as you and your Predecessors have had them from God Neither could your Ancestors lawfully resign up their Crowns to the Bishop of Rome or his Legats according to their ancient Oaths then taken upon that Ceremony The Bishops of Canterbury for the most part have crowned your Predecessors and anointed them Kings of this Land Yet it was not in their Power to receive or reject them neither did it give them Authority to prescribe them Conditions to take or to leave their Crowns although the Bishops of Rome would encroach upon your Predecessors by their Act and Oil that in the end they might possess those Bishops with an Interest to dispose of their Crowns at their Pleasure But the wiser sort will look to their Claws and clip them The solemn Rites of Coronation have their Ends and Utility yet neither direct Force or Necessity They be good Admonitions to put Kings in mind of their Duty to God but no encreasement of their Dignity For they be God's Anointed not in respect of the Oil which the Bishop useth but in consideration of their Power which is Ordained Of the Sword which is Authorized Of their Persons which are elected of God and endued with the Gifts of his Spirit for the better ruling and guiding of his People The Oil if added
is but a Ceremony If it be wanting that King is yet a perfect Monarch notwithstanding and God's Anoined as well as if he was inoiled Now for the Person or Bishop that doth anoint a King it is proper to be done by the chiefest But if they cannot or will not any Bishop may perform this Ceremony To condition with Monarchs upon these Ceremonies the Bishop of Rome or other Bishops owning his Supremacy hath no Authority but he may faithfully declare what God requires at the Hands of Kings and Rulers that is Religion and Vertue Therefore not from the Bishop of Rome but as a Messenger from my Saviour Iesus Christ I shall most humbly admonish your Royal Majesty what Things your Highness is to perform Your Majesty is God's Vicegerent and Christ's Vicar within your own Dominions and to see with your Predecessor Iosias God truly worshipped and Idolatry destroyed the Tyranny of the Bishops of Rome banished from your Subjects and Images removed These Acts be Signs of a second Iosias who reformed the Church of God in his Days You are to reward Vertue to revenge Sin to justify the Innocent to relieve the Poor to procure Peace to repress Violence and to execute Justice throughout your Realms For Precedents on those Kings who performed not these Things the Old Law shews how the Lord revenged his Quarrel and on those Kings who fulfilled these things he poured forth his Blessings in abundance For Example it is written of Iosiah in the Book of the Kings thus Like unto him there was no King that turned to the Lord with all his Heart according to all the Law of Moses neither after him arose there any like him This was to that Prince a perpetual Fame of Dignity to remain to the End of Days Being bound by my Function to lay these Things before your Royal Highness the one as a Reward if you fulfil the other as a Judgment from God if you neglect them Yet I openly declare before the living God and before these Nobles of the Land that I have no Commission to denounce your Majesty deprived if your Highness miss in part or in whole of these Performances Much less to draw up Indentures between God and your Majesty or to say you forfeit your Crown with a Clause for the Bishop of Rome as have been done by your Majesty's Predecessors King Iohn and his Son Henry of this Land The Almighty God of his Mercy let the Light of his Countenance shine upon your Majesty grant you a prosperous and happy Reign defend you and save you and let your Subjects say Amen God save the King I find no Bishop Consecrated this Year CHAP. II. A Royal Visitation BY these and other pious Instigations of the Arch-bishop who was of high esteem with the King he began early to think of the Church and to take care about rectifying the Disorders of its Members For about April there was a Royal Visitation resolved upon all England over for the better Reformation of Religion And accordingly in the beginning of May Letters were issued out from the King to the Arch-bishops that they and all their Fellow-Bishops should forbear their Visitations as was usually done in all Royal and Archiepiscopal Visitations And it was enjoined that no Ministers should preach in any Churches but in their own In a Volume in the Cotton Library there be extant the King's Letters to Robert Arch-bishop of York relating to this Visitation signed by our Arch-bishop the Duke of Somerset the Protector and his Brother Sir Thomas Seymour the Lord Russel Favourers of the Reformation the Lord St. Iohns Petres the Secretary who went along with it Gage Controuler of the Houshold and Baker Chancellor of the Court of Augmentations back-Friends to it I do not set down the Letter it self because the Bishop of Sarum hath already published it in his History Very worthy sober and learned Men were appointed for Visitors both of the Laity and Clergy And there was a Book of Injunctions prepared whereby the King 's Visitors were to govern their Visitation The Original of which Book of Injunctions is extant in Benet-College Library There I have seen them being signed by Thomas Arch-bishop of Canterbury the Duke of Somerset Sir Thomas Seymour and divers others of the Privy-Council but no Bishop save Cranmer only he being I suppose the only Bishop then a Privy-Counsellor and now often appearing in the Council for the better forwarding of Religion These Injunctions are printed in Bishop Sparrow's Collection and briefly epitomized in the History of the Reformation The Persons nominated for this present Employment were these as I find them set down in a Manuscript formerly belonging to Arch-bishop Parker but now in the Benet-College Library Where you may observe the Visitors were divided into six Sets and to each Set were apportioned particular Counties and a Preacher and a Register in this exact Method following Visitors Added by ABp Parker Counties visited Dean of Westminster Boston York Sir Iohn Herseley Kt.  Durysme Nicholas Ridley Preacher  Carlyll Edward Plankney Register  Chester Sir Anthony Coke Kt.  Westminster Sir Iohn Godsalve Kt.   Dr. Christopher Nevison The Elder London Iohn Gosnold A Lawyer  Dr. Madewe Preacher  Norwich Peter Lylly Register  Ely Sir Iohn Hales Kt.  Rochester Sir Iohn Mason Kt.   Sir Anthony Cope Kt.  Canterbury Dr. Cave A Lawyer  Mr. Briggs Preacher Once of Pembroke Chichester Rafe Morice Register  Winchester Dean of Pauls Dr. May. Sarisbury Dean of Exeter Dr. Hains Exeter Sir Walter Buckler Kt.  Bath Mr. Cotisford Preacher  Bristow Iohn Redman Register Of Haslingfeld Glocester Dean of Lincoln Dr. Taylor Peterburgh Dr. Rowland Taylor  Lincoln Mr. Iohn Ioseph Once of Canterbury Oxford  a Friar Coventry Iohn Old Register  Litchfeld Mr. Morison Once Husband to the Earl of Rutland's Wife Worcester  Hereford Mr. Syddel  Landaff Mr. Ferrowr Preacher After L. Bishop of S. Davids S. Davids George Constantine Register  Bangor Hue Rawlins Preacher in the Welch Tongue  S. Asse Where we may observe that in every Company of Visitors was joined one Preacher or more whose Business in the respective Circuits was to preach to the People to dehort them from the superstitious use of Beads and such-like Things and to learn them to worship God truly in Heart and Mind and to obey the Prince The Method which these Commissioners used in their Visitation as we collect from what was done at S. Pauls London was this They summoned the Bishop and the Members of each Cathedral and first sware them to renounce the Bishop of Rome and to the King's Supremacy and then that they should present all things in their Church and Diocess needful to be reformed Then certain Interrogatories and Articles of Enquiry were read to them by the Register To perform which an Oath was administred to
them After that the printed Injunctions and others not printed with the Book of Homilies were delivered both to the Bishop for his Church and the Arch-deacons for their respective Arch-deaconries strictly injoining them to see them speedily executed reserving other new Injunctions to be ministred afterwards as they should see cause Their next Work was to examine the Canons and Priests by virtue of their Oaths which they had taken concerning their Lives and Doctrines What was discovered in other Places concerning the Vices of the Clergy we may conlude from what was found among the Dignitaries of St. Pauls For when the Canons and Priests belonging to this Church were examined one of them named Painter openly confessed that he had often carnally used a certain Married-man's Wife whom he would not name And divers others both of the Canons and Priests confessed the same of themselves There be remaining in the Archives of the Church of Canterbury the Injunctions of the King's Visitors to the Dean and Chapter there bearing date Sept. 22. An. 1 Edw. VI. subscribed by the Visitors Hands Which Injunctions do all relate to the particular Statutes of the Church and are of no other moment There was now a Book of Homilies prepared for present use to be read in all Churches for the Instruction of the People and Erasmus's Paraphrase upon the New Testament in English was to be set up in all Churches for the better instruction of Priests in the Sense and Knowledg of the Scriptures And both these Books by the King's Injunctions aforementioned were commanded to be taught and learned CHAP. III. Homilies and Erasmus's Paraphrase ARch-bishop Cranmer found it highly convenient to find out some Means for the Instruction of the People in true Religion till the Church could be better supplied with learned Priests and Ministers For which purpose he resolved upon having some good Homilies or Sermons composed to be read to the People which should in a plain manner teach the Grounds and Foundation of true Religion and deliver the People from popular Errors and Superstitions When this was going in hand with the Arch-bishop sent his Letters to the Bishop of Winchester to try if he could bring him to be willing to join in this Business shewing him that it was no more than what was intended by the former King and a Convocation in the Year 1542 wherein himself was a Member to make such a stay of Errors as were then by ignorant Preachers spread among the People But this Bishop was not for Cranmer's Turn in his Answer signifying to him That since that Convocation the King his old Master's Mind changed and that God had afterwards given him the Gift of Pacification as he worded it meaning that the King made a stop in his once intended Reformation He added That there was a Convocation that extinguished those Devices and this was still in force And therefore that now nothing more ought to be done in Church-Matters And a Copy of this Letter he sent to the Lord Protector trying to perswade him also to be of his Mind The Arch-bishop answered these Letters of Winchester Wherein he again required these Homilies to be made by virtue of that Convocation five Years before and desired Winchester to weigh things But he replied It was true they communed then of such things but they took not effect at that time nor needed they to be put in execution now And that in his Judgment it could not be done without a new Authority and Command from the King's Majesty Then he used his Politicks urging That it was not safe to make new Stirs in Religion That the Lord Protector did well in putting out a Proclamation to stop vain Rumors and he thought it not best to enterprize any thing to tempt the People with occasion of Tales whereby to break the Proclamation And as in a natural Body he said Rest without Trouble did confirm and strengthen so it was in a Common-wealth Trouble travaileth and bringeth things to loosness Then he suggested the Danger the Arch-bishop might involve himself in by making Alterations That he was not certain of his Life when the old Order was broken and a new brought in by Homilies that he should continue to see the new Device executed For it was not done in a Day He wished there were nothing else to do now He suggested that a new Order engendred a new Cause of Punishment against them that offend and Punishments were not pleasant to them that have the Execution And yet they must be for nothing may be contemned There were two Letters Winchester sent to the Arch-bishop in answer to as many from the Arch-bishop In which he laboured to perswade the Arch-bishop not to innovate any thing in Religion during the King's Minority and particularly to forbear making Homilies and refusing for himself to meddle therein An imperfect part of one of these Letters I have laid in the Appendix as I transcribed it from the Original So when it was perceived that Winchester would not be brought to comply and join in with the Arch-bishop and the rest they went about the composing the Homilies themselves Cranmer had a great hand in them And that Homily of Salvation particularly seems to be of his own doing This while he was in composing it was shewn to Winchester by the Arch-bishop to which he made this Objection That he would yield to him in this Homily if they could shew him any old Writer that wrote how Faith excluded Charity in the Office of Justification and that it was against Scripture Upon this Canterbury began to argue with him and to shew him how Faith excluded Charity in the Point of Justifying And Winchester denied his Arguments And in fine such was his Sophistication that the Arch-bishop at last told him He liked nothing unless he did it himself and that he disliked the Homily for that Reason because he was not a Counsellor The Council had now put this Bishop in the Fleet for his Refractoriness to the King's Proceedings where if his Complaint to the Lord Protector were true he was somewhat straitly handled For he was allowed no Friend or Servant no Chaplain Barber Taylor nor Physician A sign he gave them high Provocation While he was here the Arch-bishop sent for him once or twice to discourse with him and to try to bring him to comply with their Proceedings in reforming Religion He dealt very gently with him and told him That he was a Man in his Opinion meet to be called to the Council again but withal told him that he stood too much in Obstinacy that it was perverse Frowardness and not any Zeal for the Truth And laboured to bring him to allow the Book which was now finished and the Paraphrase of Erasmus The former he could not allow of because of the Doctrine therein by Cranmer asserted of Justification by Faith without Works Which Cranmer took pains to perswade him about
that the Protector was privy to what was done there The Bishop answered That he would receive them as far as God's Law and the King's would bind him And because he saw they drew to such Preciseness he told them there were three Weeks of Delay to the coming of the Visitors to him In the mean time he offered to go to Oxford to abide the Discussion there That Offer was not allowed He desired to go to his House at London and have Learned Men speak with him there That was not accepted He entred then the Allegation of the Gospel of the Servant that said he would not do a thing and yet did it And so the Bishop said it might be that although he then said Nay as his Conscience served him yet he might change and was a Man that might be tempted But as his Conscience was then he thought that God's Laws and the King 's letted him Then they asked him if he had spoken to any Man of what he found in the Books To which he answered truly acknowledging he had But told the Lords that he thought it hard unless there were a greater Matter than this to send him to Prison for declaring his Mind before-hand what he minded to do before it had been by him done who had all the mean time to repent himself In the End the Council committed him to the Fleet. Of his Behaviour under this Censure he hath these words That he had well digested it and so all might be well he cared not what became of his Body That he departed as quietly from them as ever Man did and had endured with as little grudg He had learned this Lesson in the World never to look backward as S. Paul saith ne remember that is past That he would never grudg or complain of any thing for himself To the Lord Protector to whom he wrote all this Account of himself turning his Discourse he said That he thought it very weighty to have these Books recommended to the Realm in the King's Name by his the Protector Direction since the King himself knew nothing of them and therefore nothing could be ascribed to him And his Grace had been so occupied as all Men knew that he had no leisure to peruse them And yet of such sort were the Books according to the Account he had before written and that if no Man had advertised the Council as he had it was because they had not read them as he had done In Vindication of the Learned Author of the Paraphrase so bedashed by Winchester I will here use the words of him that writ the Epistle Dedicatory before the translated Paraphrase on the Acts. I cannot but judg that whoso are prompt and hasty Condemners of Erasmus or eager Adversaries unto his Doctrine do under the Name and Colour of Erasmus rather utter their Stomach and Hatred against God's Word and the Grace of the Gospel which Erasmus for his part most diligently and most simply laboureth to bring to light And to such as said that his Doctrine was scarcely sincere and that he did somewhat err he answered That Erasmus forasmuch as he was a Man and so esteemed himself would that his Works should none otherwise be read or accepted than the Writings of other mortal Men. And that after his Judgment a little Trip among so many notable good Works for the interpretation of Scripture and for the help of the Simple should rather be born withal than so many good Things to be either rejected or kept away from the hungry Christian Reader It is a cold Charity that can bear with nothing and an eager Malice it is that for a Trifle or a Matter of nothing would have the Ignorant to lack so much good edifying as may be taken of Erasmus Mention was made a little above of the Bishop of Winchester's Objections aganst the Paraphrase of Erasmus sent by him in a Letter to the Lord Protector This Paper I have met with in Sir Iohn Cotton's Library and being somewhat long I have put it into the Appendix Wherein may be seen at large the Bishop's Quarrels both against the Paraphrase and the Homilies labouring here to shew that the Book of Homilies and Erasmus's Paraphrase did contradict each other and therefore could not both be received and that there were Errors in each and so neither ought to be admitted Moreover he urged the Danger of making Alterations in Religion contrary to the Laws then in Force designing thereby if he could over-perswade the Protector to enervate the King 's late Injunctions For the Papists whose chief Instrument was VVinchester saw it was time now to bestir themselves to overthrow these Proceedings that were in hand if it were possible When this Affair happened between the Council and the Bishop for which they cast him into the Fleet Somerset the Protector was absent in an Expedition against the Scots By whose Conduct in the Month of September God blessed the King with a very glorious Victory in a Battel fought near Musselburrough Which redounded much to the Protector 's Honour wherein was more Danger than he looked for which gave him the greater occasion to shew his Valour For there were but few lost on the English-side but fifteen thousand Scots reckoned to be slain and two thousand taken Prisoners For this Victory a Publick Thanksgiving was thought fit to be Celebrated And the Arch-bishop required of the Bishop of London to procure a Sermon at S. Pauls before the Mayor and Aldermen and immediately after a Procession in English and Te Deum The Arch-bishop's Letter which will shew what the Court thought of that good Success was as followeth AFter our right hearty Commendations Whereas it hath pleased Almighty God to send the King's Majesty such Victory against the Scots as was almost above the Expectation of Man and such as hath not been heard of in any part of Christendom this many Years In which Victory above the Number of 15000 Scots be slain 2000 taken Prisoners and among them many Noble-men and others of good Reputation all their Ordnance and Baggage of their Camp also won from them The King's Majesty with Advice of his Highness Privy-Council presently attending upon his Majesty's most Royal Person well-knowing this as all other Goodness to be Gifts of God hath and so doth account it And therefore rendereth unto him the only Glory and Praise for the same And so hath willed me not only in his Majesty's Cathedral Church and other Churches of my Diocess to give Thanks to Almighty God but also to require in his Name all other Bishops in the Province of Canterbury to do or cause to be done semblably in their Course Which his Majesty's Pleasure I have thought good to signify unto you Requiring you not only to cause a Sermon to be made in your Cathedral Church the next Holy-day after receipt hereof declaring the Goodness of God and exhorting the People to Faith and amendment of
Irenicum published by him from a Manuscript Volume once belonging to Arch-bishop Cranmer In this Convocation the Arch-bishop bore the great Sway and what things were agitated herein were chiefly by his Motion and Direction Some whereof were turned into Laws by the Parliament that was now sitting through his Activeness and Influence As particularly that Repeal of the Statute of the Six Articles and of some other severe Laws decreeing divers things Treason and Felony made in the former King's Reign For when the Arch-bishop in the Convocation had made a Speech to the Clergy exhorting them to give themselves to the study of the Scriptures and to consider what Things in the Church needed Reformation that so the Church might be discharged of all Popish Trash not yet thrown out Some told him that as long as the Six Articles remained it was not safe for them to deliver their Opinions This he reported to the Council Upon which they ordered this Act of Repeal By his means also another great thing moved in the Convocation was now ratified and made a Law by this Parliament which was for the Administration of the Communion under both Kinds throughout the Kingdom of England and Ireland And upon this the King appointed certain Grave and Learned Bishops and others to assemble at Windsor-Castle there to treat and confer together and to conclude upon and set forth one perfect and uniform Order of Communion according to the Rules of Scripture and the Use of the Primitive Church And this being framed it was enjoined to be used throughout the Realm by a Proclamation and all required to receive it with due Reverence I meet with a Writing of the Arch-bishop without Date consisting of Queries concerning the Mass in order to the abolishing it and changing it into a Communion Which I know not where so well to place as here now the Convocation was employed upon this Matter For it seems to have been drawn up by the Arch-bishop on purpose to be laid before the Consideration of this House The Queries were these What or wherein Iohn Fasting giving Alms being Baptized or receiving the Sacrament of the Altar in England doth profit and avail Thomas dwelling in Italy and not knowing what Iohn in England doth Whether it profit them that be in Heaven and wherein Whether it lieth in the Faster Giver of Alms Receiver of the Sacrament him that is Baptized to defraud any Member of Christ's Body of the Benefit of Fasting Alms-Deeds Baptism or Receiving of the Sacrament and to apply the same Benefit to one Person more than to another What thing is the Presentation of the Body and Blood of Christ in the Mass which you call the Oblation and Sacrifice of Christ And wherein standeth it in Act Gesture or Word and in what Act Gesture or Word Is there any Rite or Prayer and expressed in the Scripture which Christ used or commanded at the first Institution of the Mass which we be now bound to use and what the same be Whether in the Primitive Church there were any Priests that lived by saying of Mass Mattens and Even-song and praying for Souls only And where any such State of Priesthood be allowed in the Scriptures or be meet to be allowed now For what Cause were it not expedient nor convenient to have the whole Mass in the English Tongue Wherein consisteth the Mass by Christ's Institution What Time the accustomed Order began first in the Church that the Priests alone should receive the Sacrament Whether it be convenient that the same Custom continue still within this Realm Whether it be convenient that Masses Satisfactory should continue that is to say Priests hired to sing for Souls departed Whether the Gospel ought to be taught at the Time of the Mass to the understanding of the People being present Whether in the Mass it were convenient to use such Speech as the People may understand To proceed to some other Things wherein our Arch-bishop was this Year concerned In Iune the Church of S. Pauls was hanged with Black and a sumptuous Hearse set up in the Choire and a Dirige there sung for the French King who deceased the March precedent And on the next Day the Arch-bishop assisted with eight Bishops more all in rich Mitres and their other Pontificals did sing a Mass of Requiem and the Bishop of Rochester preached a Funeral Sermon A nice Matter was now put by the Council to the Arch-bishop having some other Bishops and Learned Men joined with him to the Number of Ten. The Case was Whether a Man divorced from his Wife for her Adultery might not lawfully marry again This was propounded upon the Account of a great Man in those Times namely the Brother of Queen Katherine Par Marquess of Northampton who had gotten a Divorce from his Wife the Daughter of Bourchier Earl of Essex for Adultery The Canon Law would not allow marrying again upon a Divorce making Divorce to be only a Separation from Bed and Board and not a Dissolving the Knot of Marriage This was a great Question depending among the Civilians And it being committed to the Determination of our Arch-bishop and some other Delegates tho the Marquess staid not for their Resolution but in this Interval married Elizabeth Daughter of the Lord Brook he searched so diligently into the Scriptures first and then into the Opinions of Fathers and Doctors that his Collections swelled into a Volume yet remaining in the Hands of a Learned Bishop of this Realm The Sum whereof is digested by the Bishop of Saâ—â—m Cranmer seemed to allow of Marriage in the Innocent Person He was a Means also to the Council of forbidding Processions Wherein the People carried Candles on Candlemass-day Ashes on Ash-wednesday Palms on Palm-sunday because he saw they were used so much to Superstition and looked like Festivals to the Heathen Gods So that this Year on Candlemass-day the old Custom of bearing Candles in the Church and on Ash-wednesday following giving Ashes in the Church was left off through the whole City of London He was a Member of a Committee this Winter appointed to examine all the Offices of the Church and to consider where they needed Reformation and accordingly to reform them Of this Commission were most of the Bishops and several others of the most Learned Divines in the Nation And a new Office for the Communion was by them prepared and by Authority set forth as was observed before and received all over England CHAP. V. The Arch-bishop's Catechism THIS Year the Arch-bishop put forth a very useful Catechism intituled A short Instruction to Christian Religion for the singular Profit of Children and young People This Catechism went not by way of Question and Answer but contained an easy Exposition of the Ten Commandments the Creed the Lord's Prayer and the two Sacraments The first and second Commandments were put together as one and the whole recital
themselves to him with their just Defence and not only to him but to others and particularly to Mr. Cecyl one formerly their Colleague who was now Master of Requests to the Protector letting him know the whole Matter that he might upon occasion represent the Cause the more favourably to the Arch-bishop And Ascham himself was their Scribe whose Epistle penned in a handsome Latin Stile being not extant among his printed Epistles and being subservient to the History of the University in those Times I have thought worthy to be inserted among the Originals In this Letter he charged the other Party as well with Malice as Ignorance For this their Question was very agreeable to Thomas Aquinas who proved that the Mass exceeded the Lord's Supper in many Prerogatives and much differed from it by many Notes as Women Children Bastards maimed Persons were not allowed to partake of the Mass but they were received to the Holy Supper So that should any say as he proceeds in his Letter that the Mass and the Supper were the same they might exclaim against them much more Their Adversaries had charged them with being too rash in not staying for what Reformation the State should make But he said that all Cambridg wanted rather Spurs to put them forward than a Bridle to keep them back But though their Dispute were prohibited yet their Studies upon the same Argument had in a manner encreased having now written a just Treatise of the Mass which they intended shortly to present to the Protector and waited only for Cecyl's and Cheke's Advice therein But I must beg Pardon of the Reader for this Excursion And as I have given an Instance or two of the private Address of a particular College to him in a particular Case so I will subjoin another more publick of the University in general In the Year abovesaid being the first Year of the King the University laboured under the Fears of the Encroachments of the Town upon their Privileges and likewise under great Suspicions of being spoiled of its Revenues or at least of having them much diminished she having observed how those of her Sister the Church were daily invaded by secular Hands These Fears put Cambridg now in a decaying State and the Studies of good Literature began to be but little minded Add also hereunto that Ecclesiastical Preferments which formerly were the peculiarRewards of Academicks were now ordinarily enjoyed by mere unlearned Lay-men So the Earl of Hartford held a Deanery a Treasureship of a Cathedral Church and four of the best Prebends and his Son three hundred Pounds a Year out of a Bishoprick And Learned Men were seldom taken notice of or had Honours conferred on them and if they obtained any Rewards they were but small Nor were Scholars now in any Repute or Value So that neither Poor nor Rich abode long at their Studies in the University to attain to any considerable Degrees of Learning The Poor could not because the Encouragements there were scarce capable to maintain them and the richer Sort would not chusing rather to follow some other Course because of the obscure and neglected Condition Learning then lay under The Grammar Schools also became disused Parents chusing any other Calling for their Children rather than to bring them up to Letters As Roger Ascham a Man that well knew the State of the University complains in a Letter to the Marquess of Northampton This was the Cause that the said Ascham pensively thus writ unto our Arch-bishop not long after That the University was then in so depressed and drooping a Condition that very few had hope of coming thither at all and fewer had any Comfort to make long tarrying when they were there And that Abroad it retained not so much as the Shadow of its Ancient Dignity At this low Ebb the University now was when King Edward the Sixth came to the Scepter But there being a Parliament this Year in the Month of November the chief Officers thereof thought it adviseable however to prevent it if they could from sinking lower and to keep at least what they had by getting their Ancient Privileges confirmed by that Parliament And for this purpose they writ their earnest Letters to the Arch-bishop Iohn Madew their Vice-chancellor the Bearer urging to him Not only that it was a thing usual at the beginning of Princes Reigns to shew that Favour to the University to have their Privileges renewed by Parliament but chiefly that the Favour his Grace should do to it would be a true piece of Service to the Religion which he had such a tender Care of That every one knew how much it concerned the Common-wealth that Account should be made of Learning but how much it concerned the pure Religion as they stiled that of the Reformation he alone did consider above all others That he knew how that about five hundred Years past or more the knowledg of Letters by the Fault of Kings who ought to have cherish'd it began to withdraw it self from Men and to hide it self in Darkness In which dark Times so involved in Ignorance that notable wild Boar out of the Wood spoiled the Vineyard of Christ above measure Not only treading down the Kings of the Earth and conferring upon himself the Empire of the World but so invaded and broke into the Holy Seat and Temple of Conscience that now there were scarce any Manners of Men any Course of Life any Rite of Ceremonies any Sacrament of the Church any Footstep of Christ which were not either laid waste by his Thunder or defiled by his Breath Or to speak in milder but more significant terms with S. Paul which were not most foully corrupted and adulterated by the Wisdom of humane Will-worship That it was this Night of Discipline and want of Knowledg which robbed us of God's Word and advanced the Empire of Man's Doctrine to that Arbitrary Height that instead of the true Worship of God the right using of things Divine a holy and pure Course of Life Hypocrisy Idolatry and Adultery were most cunningly conveyed and brought in That they did the more willingly mention this Pest of Ignorance conceiving great Hope that the Honour of Learning would be restored anew now when all things tended in a wonderful manner to the illustrating of true Religion which good Learning did necessarily accompany And that since God had now raised him up on purpose for the restoring of the Gospel and had so long reserved him for that End they doubted not but he would give all his Pains and Authority to preserve the Welfare of Learning And that somewhat for this Reason because at that time there could happen no Calamity or Advantage thereunto but every Man would be apt either to charge him with the Blame of the one or attribute to him the Praise of the other This eloquent Letter indicted by the Pen of Ascham then the University-Orator having some remarkable Passages of the State of
of Superstition flowed in such a plentiful measure from the Egyptians as might easily be proved and thence derived themselves first to the Greeks then to the Romans and afterwards to our Times through that Sink of Popery that that single worthy Counsel and Remedy of those most Learned Men enjoined for the enlarging and spreading of Learning should be debarred us to follow and that by such as were either unlearned themselves or superstitious Men Whereby the best Wits received so great Prejudice and Dammage That none knew better than his Lordship whence this Custom arose by whom cherished and by what kind of Men brought down to us And lastly how unwholsome and unfit all eating of Flesh was in the Spring-time And that he might obtain this Favour he would use it without giving Offence or making any common Speech of it with Quietness and Silence with Abstinence and Thanksgiving This Letter he got his Friend Poinet the Arch-bishop's Chaplain the same I suppose who after was Bishop of Winchester to put into his Grace's Hand and to further his Request what he could The Issue whereof was to his Heart's desire For though the Arch-bishop knew him not nor was easily drawn to dispence with the Church's Ancient Discipline and Rites yet he received his Suit with all Humanity and such he found to be the Modesty and Ingenuity of the Man and what he requested to be grounded upon such reasonable and just Causes that he readily yielded to it And whether he thought it out of his Power to grant a Licence of that Latitude to discharge a Person for all Time to come from the Obligation of keeping Lent or to avert the Censure he might incur if he should have done it by his own Authority or reckoning it a Matter of Law rather than Religion he put himself to the trouble of procuring the King's Licence under the Privy Seal for this Man And when he had done that considering an Academick's Poverty he released him of the whole Charges of taking it out paying all the Fees himself and so conveyed it to him by Dr. Tayler the Master of his College And indeed the Arch-bishop's Opinion concerning Lent made way for his more ready yielding to Ascham's Request For he held the keeping of Lent as founded in a Positive Law rather than as a Religious Duty and thought it necessary that so the People should be taught and instructed As appears by his Articles of Visitation in the second Year of King Edward One whereof ran thus That enquiry should be made whether the Curats had declared and to their Wit and Power had perswaded the People that the manner and kind of Fasting in Lent and other Days in the Year was but a meer positive Law And that therefore all Persons having just Cause of Sickness or other Necessity or being licensed by the King's Majesty may moderately eat all kind of Meat without grudg or scruple of Conscience The same Ascham knowing well how the Arch-bishop's Mind stood affected to Cambridg his old Nurse and how well he wish'd it for the sake of Religion acquainted him with the State of the University about the beginning of King Edward's Reign and the Course of the Studies that were then used That there were very many began to affect the Study of Divinity A new Study it seems then the Pope's Laws and the School-men having before employed the Heads of almost all That the Doctrines of Original Sin and Predestination were much canvased But many went rather according to Pighius highly applauding him than according to S. Augustin though he exceeded all others that either went before or followed after him for the excellency of his Wit and Learning and the greatness of his Industry and Opportunities That others among them made the reading of God's Word their daily Exercise And for the helping their Understandings in the sense of it they made use of and adhered to the Judgment of S. Augustin chiefly and studied hard the Tongues The Knowledg of Languages began to be affected And such as studied them were reckoned the best Masters as qualifying them best for teaching of others or understanding themselves That for Oratory they plied Plato and Aristotle from whose Fountains among the Greeks Loquens illa prudentia as he stiled Oratory that speaking Prudence might be fetched And to these among the Latins they added Cicero They conversed also in Herodotus Thucididâ—s and Xenophon the three Lights of Chronology Truth and Greek Eloquence and which brought a great Lustre to their other Studies The Greek Poets which they took delight in were Homer Sophocles and Euripides the one the Fountain the two others the Streams of all Eloquence and Learned Poetry Which they were of Opinion did more largely water their other Studies than Terence or Virgil which in some former Years were chiefly read Thus was the Method of University-Studies altered so much for the better from reading the Schoolmen and Metaphysical Niceties the Pope's Canons and Decretals to converse in politer and more manly Learning which tended so much to solid Knowledg and preparation of Mens Minds to the Entertainment of the Gospel The great setter on foot of this ingenuous Learning in the University was Sir Iohn Cheke of S. Iohn's College now preferred to be the King's Tutor a Person for whom the Arch-bishop had a very tender Love and affectionate Kindness For so Ascham writ to him in his former Letter That many had addicted themselves to this course of Study by the Aid and Conduct Example and Counsel of that excellent Man And that they bore the better his going from them to the Court who had brought them on in so good a Course because they knew their Disprofit was abundantly recompensed by the Profit and Safety that would accrue to the whole Common-wealth by him Applying that of Plato to him Plurimum Reip. interesse ut unus aliquis existat semper praestans excellensque Vir ad cujus virtutis imitationem caeteri voluntate industria studio spe erecti totos sese effingant accommodent Afterwards he acquainted the most Reverend Person to whom he wrote with those things which proved great Hindrances to the flourishing Estate of the University that by his Counsel and Authority if possible they might be redressed And they were two The one was That they wanted elderly Men very few such remaining among them by whose Example the younger Sort might be excited to study and by whose Authority the Manners of the rest might be rightly formed and fashioned The other Impediment was occasioned by such as were admitted Who were for the most part only the Sons of Rich Men and such as never intended to pursue their Studies to that degree as to arrive at any eminent Proficiency and Perfection in Learning but only the better to qualify themselves for some Places in the State by a slighter and more superficial Knowledg The Injury accruing thence to the University was double both
Year when Ridley was translated thither as we shall see by and by Indeed this was the most plausible Pretence the Papists had and which they made much use of Which Boner and Gardiner had cunningly invented viz. That though the King were to be obeyed and all were bound to submit to his Laws yet not to the Orders and Placits of his Counsellors who made what Innovations they pleased in his Name and were none of his Laws and that therefore things should remain in the State wherein the former King left them till the King now a Child came to Years of Discretion to make Laws himself This the Rebels in Devon made use of And this also the Lady Mary urged very boldly to the Lords of the Council for her incompliance with the Communion-Book and for continuance of the use of the Mass telling them in a Letter That she was resolved to remain obedient to her Father's Laws till the King her Brother should have perfect Years of Discretion to order that Power that God had given him Which Letter whereof I have the Original may be seen in the Appendix For the satisfying therefore of the People in this the Preachers were fain to do their Endeavours in the Pulpits Shewing them that those that were in Office under the King were by the Word of God to be obeyed as the King himself There be some Men that say as Latimer in one of his Sermons in these Days when the King's Majesty himself commandeth me so to do then I will do it not afore This is a wicked Saying and damnable For we may not so be excused Scripture is plain in it and sheweth us that we ought to obey his Officers having Authority from the King as well as unto the King himself Therefore this Excuse will not nor cannot serve afore God Yet let the Magistrates take heed to their Office and Duty This Year the Arch-bishop celebrated a great Ordination consisting of such chiefly as shewed themselves Favourers of the King's Proceedings to be sent abroad to preach the Gospel and to serve in the Ministry of the Church At this Ordination Bishop Ridley also assisted the Arch-bishop The old Popish Order of conferring of Holy Orders was yet in force the new Office as yet not being prepared and established But this Ordination nevertheless was celebrated after that Order that was soon after established At this Ordination great Favour was shewn and Connivance to such who otherwise being well qualified for Piety and Learning scrupled wearing the Habits used by the Popish Priests I meet with two famous Men now ordained The one was Robert Drakes who was Deacon to Dr. Tayler Parson of Hadley at the Commandment of Arch-bishop Cranmer afterwards Parson of Thundersley in Essex and in the Year 1556 burnt to death in Smithfield for his constant Profession of Christ's Religion The other was Thomas Sampson Parson of Breadstreet London and successively Dean of Chichester and Christ's-Church Oxon. Who in a Letter of his written to Secretary Cecyl in Q. Elizabeth's Reign said That at his Ordination he excepted against the Apparel and by the Arch-bishop and Bishop Ridley he was nevertheless permitted and admitted All the Divine Offices were now reformed but only that for Ordination of Ministers Therefore for the doing of this the Council appointed Twelve Learned Men consisting half of Bishops and half of other inferior Divines Whose Names I do not meet with excepting Hethe Bp of Worcester Who because he would not assist in this Work was sent to Prison The chief of them no doubt was the Arch-bishop After mature deliberation this Office was agreed upon and finished And Ponet was the first Bishop Consecrated after this new Form And that I suppose may be the reason that it is set down at length in the Arch-bishop's Register in that manner as it is there to be seen as we shall see under the next Year Upon the Vacancy of Cathedral Churches the Arch-bishop used to visit So now the Church of S. Davids being vacant upon the remove of Barlow to Bath and Wells the Arch-bishop issued out a Commission to Eliseus Price to visit that Church And upon the Vacancy of Glocester by the Death of Wakeman there was a Commission to I. Williams LL. D. and Prebendary there to be his Commissary and to visit that Church and to be Keeper of the Spiritualties of the City and Diocess of Glocester in this third Year of the King This Year also the Church of Norwich being become Vacant by the Resignation of Repps the Arch-bishop granted a Commission to Iohn Bishop Suffragan of Thetford and Dean of the Church of the Holy Trinity Norwich to be his Deputy and Commissary for Visitation and Jurisdiction But somewhat before this he constituted Roland Taylor LL.D. and Will. Wakefeld D. D. to be Keepers of the Spiritualties of Norwich From whose Jurisdiction he protested not to derogate by those his Commissional Letters to the Suffragan nor to withdraw from them any Authority of Jurisdiction This was dated February 15. Also the Church of London being Vacant by the Deprivation and Destitution of Boner the Arch-bishop constituted Gabriel Donne Residentiary of S. Pauls to be his Official and Keeper of the Spiritualties to exercise all manner of Episcopal Jurisdiction in the said City and Diocess This Year he made Griffin Leyson LL.D. Dean of the Arches CHAP. XII Duke of Somerset's Troubles The Common-Prayer Ratified WHEN most of the Council had combined together in the Month of October against the Protector of the King's Person the Duke of Somerset and had withdrawn themselves to Ely-House the King then being at Hampton-Court and suddenly conveyed by the said Duke to Windsor upon the fear of Tumult then I find the Arch-bishop and but two Privy-Counsellors more with the King and the Protector there Being here the good Arch-bishop though he would not forsake his Friend the Duke nor the King his Master yet he did what lay in him to appease and pacify these Heats And so he with the Lord Paget and Secretary Smith in their own and the King's Name wrote an earnest Letter to the Separating Counsellors and sent it by Sir Philip Hoby Wherein as appears by their Answer They were charged by the Arch-bishop with creating much Care and Sorrow to the King and that he thought they had not that Care that beseemed them of pacifying the present Uproars and for the preservation of the State from Danger That they forgat the Benefits they had received from the King's Father nor were mindful of their Duty of Allegiance That their Doings bespake Wilfulness and that the Protector meant nothing but the Safety and Protection of the King in what he had done and that he had that consideration of his Duty to God that the Promise and Oath he made required They were advised to do as they would be done unto And mention was made of Cruelty more than once charging
Riot in the University and thereby to endanger the King's Professor and was therefore got away into Scotland conscious likewise to himself of Calumnies and Wrongs done by him against the Arch-bishop some time after wrote to the Arch-bishop a submissive Letter praying him to forgive all the Injuries he had done his Grace and to obtain the King's Pardon for him that he might return Home again And he promised to write a Book for the Marriage of Priests as he had done before against it That he was the more desirous to come Home into England because otherwise he should be put upon writing against his Grace's Book of the Sacrament and all his Proceedings in Religion being then harboured as he would make it believed by such as required it at his Hands But in Q. Mary's Days he revolted again and was a most zealous Papist and then did that indeed which he gave some Hints of before for he wrote vehemently against Cranmer's Book But from Oxford let us look over to Cambridg Where Disputations likewise were held in the Month of Iune before the King's Commissioners who were Ridley Bishop of Rochester Thomas Bishop of Ely Mr. Cheke Dr. May and Dr. Wendy the King's Physician The Questions were That Transubstantiation could not be proved by Scripture nor be confirmed by the Consent of Antient Fathers for a thousand Years past And that the Lord's Supper is no Oblation or Sacrifice otherwise than a Remembrance of Christ's Death There were three Solemn Disputations In the first Dr. Madew was Respondent and Glyn Langdale Sedgwick and Yong Opponents In the Second Dr. Glyn was Respondent on the Popish side Opponents Pern Grindal Guest Pilkington In the third Dr. Pern was Respondent Parker Pollard Vavasor Yong Opponents After these Disputations were ended the Bishop of Rochester determined the Truth of these Questions ad placitum suum as a Papist wrote out of whose Notes I transcribe the Names of these Disputants Besides these Disputations when Bucer came to Cambridg he was engaged in another with Sedgwick Pern and Yong upon these Questions I. That the Canonical Books of Scripture alone do teach sufficiently all things necessary to Salvation II. That there is no Church in Earth that erreth not as well in Faith as Manners III. That we are so freely justified of God that before our Justification whatsoever good Works we seem to do have the Nature of Sin Concerning this last he and Yong had several Combates Which are set down in his English Works As to Bucer's Opinion of the Presence in the Sacrament the great Controversy of this Time it may not be amiss to consider what so great a Professor thought herein and especially by what we saw before that Martyr and he did somewhat differ in this Point For as he would not admit those words Carnally and Naturally so neither did he like Realiter and Substantialiter Bucer's Judgment drawn up by himself sententiously in 54 Aphorisms may be seen in the Appendix as I meet with it among Fox's Papers It is extant in Latin among his Scripta Anglicana and intitled Concessio D. M. Buc. de Sancta Eucharistia in Anglia Aphoristicos scripta Anno 1550. And so we take our leave of Bucer for this Year We shall hear of him again in the next CHAP. XV. Matters of the Church and its State now LET me now crave a little room to set down some Matters that relate to the Church coming within the compass of this Year which will shew what mean Advances Religion as yet had made in the Nation Divers Relicks of Popery still continued in the Nation by means partly of the Bishops partly of the Justices of Peace Popishly affected In London Bishop Boner drove on but heavily in the King's Proceedings though he outwardly complied In his Cathedral Church there remained still the Apostles Mass and our Lady's Mass and other Masses under the Defence and Nomination of our Lady's Communion used in the private Chappels and other remote places of the same Church tho not in the Chancel contrary to the King's Proceedings Therefore the Lord Protector and others of the Council wrote to the Bishop Iune 24. Complaining of this and ordering that no such Masses should be used in S. Paul's Church any longer and that the Holy Communion according to the Act of Parliament should be ministred at the high Altar of the Church and in no other place of the same and only at such times as the high Masses were wont to be used except some number of People for their necessary Business desired to have a Communion in the Morning and yet the same to be exercised in the Chancel at the high Altar as was appointed in the Book of Publick Service Accordingly Boner directed his Letters to the Dean and Chapter of Paul's to call together those that were resident and to declare these Matters As it was thus in London so in the Countries too many of the Justices were slack in seeing to the execution of the King's Laws relating not only to Religion but to other Affairs And in some Shires that were further distant the People had never so much as heard of the King's Proclamation by the Default of the Justices who winked at the Peoples neglect thereof For the quickening of the Justices of Peace at this time when a Foreign Invasion was daily expected and Foreign Power was come into Scotland to aid that Nation against England the Lord Protector and the Privy-Council assembled at the Star-Chamber and called before them all the Justices which was a thing accustomed sometimes to be done for the Justices to appear before the King and Council there to have Admonitions and Warnings given them for the discharge of their Duty And then the Lord Chancellor Rich made a Speech to them That they should repair down into their several Countries with speed and give warning to other Gentlemen to go down to their Houses and there to see good Order and Rule kept that their Sessions of Goal-delivery and Quarter-Sessions be well observed that Vagabonds and seditious Tale-bearers of the King or his Council and such as preached without Licence be repress'd and punished That if there should be any Uproars or Routs and Riots of lewd Fellows or privy Traitors they should appease them And that if any Enemy should chance to arise in any Place of England they should fire the Beacons as had been wrote to them before and repulse the same in as good Array as they could And that for that purpose they should see diligently that Men have Horse Harness and other Furniture of Weapon ready And to the Bishops the Council now sent Letters again for Redress of the Contempt and Neglect of the Book of Common-Prayer which to this time long after the publishing thereof was either not known at all to many or very irreverently used Occasioned especially by the winking of the Bishops and the stubborn Disobedience
of old Popish Curats The Letter is dated the 23 d of Iuly and is extant in Fox In London by the Connivance and Remisness of the Bishop many neglected the Divine Service then established and others did in secret Places of the Diocess often frequent the Popish Mass and other Superstitious Rites not allowed by the Laws of England The Sins of Adultery greatly encreased The Churches and particularly the Mother-Church of S. Paul's ran into Dilapidations the Glass was broken and the Ornaments and other Buildings belonging to Churches neglected Many refused to pay Tithes to their Curates probably of both sorts such as were Papists to those Curats as more diligently preached Reformation and obeyed the King's Laws and such as were not so to such Curats as were more backward thereunto Bishop Boner also himself now seldom came to Church seldomer preached and celebrated the English Communion Wherefore the Council sent certain private Injunctions to Boner for the redress of these things That he should preach in his own Person at Paul's Cross and declare certain Articles relating to the before-mentioned Neglects which the Council now sent to him to redress That he should preach once in a Quarter and exhort the People to Obedience and that he should be present at every Sermon at Paul's Cross that he should on the principal Feasts celebrate the Communion and at all times that his Predecessors used to Celebrate and sing High Mass. That he should call before him all such as did not frequent the Church and Common-Prayer and the Holy Communion and punish them as also Adulterers and that he should look to the Reparation of S. Paul's and other Churches and that the People pay their Tithes The Adulteries before hinted which the Council thought fit to recommend to the Bishop to take particular cognizance of makes me add that about this time the Nation grew infamous for this Crime It began among the Nobility and so spread at length among the inferior sort Noblemen would very frequently put away their Wives and marry others if they liked another Woman better or were like to obtain Wealth by her And they would sometimes pretend their former Wives to be false to their Beds and so be divorced and marry again such whom they fancied The first occasion of this seemed to be in the Earl of Northampton divorcing himself from his first Wife Anne Daughter to the Earl of Essex and after marrying Elizabeth Daughter to the Lord Cobham In like manner Henry Son of William Earl of Pembroke put away Katharine Daughter to Henry the Duke of Suffolk and married Mary the Daughter of Sir Henry Sidney These Adulteries and Divorces encreased much yea and marrying again without Divorce which became a great Scandal to the Realm and to the Religion professed in it and gave much Sorrow and Trouble in good Men to see it In so much that they thought it necessary to move for an Act of Parliament to punish Adultery with Death This Latimer in a Sermon preached in the Year 1550 signified to the King For the Love of God saith he take an order for Marriage here in England This is some Account of the Retardation of Religion On the other hand the Endeavors of those that wished well to it were not wanting Now the Protestants began more freely to put forth Books and to disperse such as were formerly printed beyond Sea in the behalf of Religion against Popery and concerning such as had suffered under the Cruelties of the Church of Rome Bale about these Days dispersed his Books One was The Image of both Churches applying the Divine Prophecy of the Revelations to the Apostate Church of Rome Another was a Vindication of the Lady Anne Ascue who suffered the cruel Death of Burning about the end of King Henry's Reign Whose Cause the Papists studiously had rendred bad This Book he intitled The Elucidation of Anne Ascue's Martyrdom Which was this Year exposed publickly to sale at Winchester and the Parts thereabouts as a Reproach to the Bishop of Winchester who was the great Cause of her Death Four of these Books came to that Bishop's own Eyes being then at Winchester they had Leaves put in as Additions to the Book some glewed and some unglewed which probably contained some further Intelligences that the Author had gathered since his first writing of the Book And herein some Reflexions were made freely according to Bale's Talent upon some of the Court not sparing Paget himself though then Secretary of State Another of Bale's Books that went now about was touching the Death of Luther Therein was a Prayer of the Duke of Saxony mentioned which the Bishop of Winchester gladly took hold on Wherein that Duke as to the justness of his Cause remitted himself to God's Judgment to be shewed on him here in this World if the Cause he undertook were not Just concerning Religion and desired God if it were not Good to order him to be taken and spoiled of his Honors and Possessions Since which the Duke was taken Prisoner and at the very time of his taking the Papists made an Observation that the Sun appeared so strangely in England as the like had not been seen before So apt are Men to interpret Events according to their own preconceived Opinions But at this Winchester took much Advantage Whereas indeed the Issues of God's Providence in this World are not favourable always even to the best Causes The keeping of Lent was now called into Controversy and asserted that it was not to be observed upon a religious Account And this was done the rather because the Papists placed so much Religion in the bare Fast. In the Pulpit it began to be cried down Tongue and Ioseph two great Preachers in London said That Lent was one of Christ's Miracles which God ordained not Men to imitate or follow And that it was an insupportable Burden There was a set of Rhimes now made about the burial of Lent which was called Iack of Lent 's Testament and publicly sold in Winchester Market therein Steven Gardiner the Bishop was touched who was a great Man for keeping it For in the Ballad Stephen Stockfish was bequeathed in this Will to Stephen Gardiner Of this he made a long Complaint to the Protector But yet this Neglect of Lent was not encouraged by the Superiors For it was kept at Court and Preparations for the King's Diet were made accordingly this Lent by the Protector The Protestants indeed were for keeping it and an Order was issued out for that purpose tho not upon a Religious but Politick Account But the greater part of the ordinary People would not be brought to it by this Distinction So that the Preachers were fain to be employed Latimer preached That those that regard-not Laws and Statutes were despisers of Magistrates There be Laws made of Diet he said what Meats we shall eat at all times And this Law is made in Policy as I suppose for
Victual's sake that Fish might be uttered as well as other Meat Now as long as it goeth so politickly we ought to keep it Therefore all except those that be dispensed withal as sick impotent Persons Women with Child old Folk c. ought to live in an ordinary obedience to those Laws and not to do against the same in any wise Gardiner urged the great Inconvenience these Rhimes against Lent might occasion That they could serve for nothing but to learn the People to rail and to make others forbear to make their usual Provisions of Fish against the ensuing Year fearing Lent to be sick as the Rhime purported and like to die About these Times there arose much talk of the King 's matching The Protestants were much afraid of his marrying with some Foreign Princess Abroad that might turn his Heart from Religion But the Popishly-affected did their endeavours to perswade him to please himself with some Lady Abroad as best agreeable with Politick Ends as the enlarging of his Dominions and the Surety and Defence of his Countries Some therefore put Latimer upon giving the King Counsel in this Matter from the Pulpit So he advised the King to chuse him one that is of God that is which is of the Houshold of Faith and such an one as the King can find in his Heart to love and lead his Life in pure and chaste Espousage with Let him chuse a Wife that fears God Let him not chuse a Proud Wanton and one full only of rich Treasures and worldly Pomp. The Sentiments of the Protestant Foreigners concerning the present English State deserves a particular Remark They took such great Joy and Satisfaction in this good King and his Establishment of Religion that the Heads of them Bullinger Calvin and others in a Letter to him offered to make him their Defender and to have Bishops in their Churches as there were in England with the tender of their Service to assist and unite together This netled the Learned at the Council of Trent who came to the knowledg of it by some of their private Intelligencers and they verily thought that all the Hereticks as they called them would now unite among themselves and become one Body receiving the same Discipline exercised in England Which if it should happen and that they should have Heretical Bishops near them in those Parts they concluded that Rome and her Clergy would utterly fall Whereupon were sent two of their Emissaries from Rotterdam into England who were to pretend themselves Anabaptists and preach against baptizing Infants and preach up Rebaptizing and a Fifth Monarchy upon Earth And besides this one D. G. authorized by these Learned Men dispatched a Letter written in May 1549 from Delf in Holland to two Bishops whereof Winchester was one signifying the coming of these pretended Anabaptists and that they should receive them and cherish them and take their Parts if they should chance to receive any Checks Telling them that it was left to them to assist in this Cause and to some others whom they knew to be well-affected to the Mother-Church This Letter is lately put in print Sir Henry Sydney first met with it in Queen Elizabeth's Closet among some Papers of Queen Mary's He transcribed it into a Book of his called The Romish Policies It came afterwards into the Hands of ABp Vsher and was transcribed thence by Sir Iames Ware Let it be remembred here and noted that about this time Winchester was appointed with Ridley Bishop of Rochester to examine certain Anabaptists in Kent I find no Bishops Consecrated this Year CHAP. XVI Ridley made Bishop of London The Communion-Book reviewed RIdley Bishop of Rochester was designed to succeed Boner lately deprived in the Bishoprick of London and April 3. took his Oath an half Year being almost spent before he entred upon the Care of that See after Boner's Deprivation At his entrance he was exceeding wary not to do his Predecessor the least Injury in Goods that belonged to him He had not one Penny-worth of his moveable Goods for if any were found and known to be his he had Licence to convey them away otherwise they were safely preserved for him There was some quantity of Lead lay in the House which he used about it and the Church but Ridley paid for it as Boner's own Officers knew He continued Boner's Receiver one Staunton in his Place He paid fifty three or fifty five Pounds for Boner's own Servants common Liveries and Wages which was Boner's own Debt remaining unpaid after his Deposition He frequently sent for old Mrs. Boner his Predecessor's Mother calling her his Mother and caused her to sit in the uppermost Seat at his own Table as also for his Sister one Mrs. Mongey It was observed how Ridley welcomed the old Gentlewoman and made as much of her as though she had been his own Mother And though sometimes the Lords of the Council dined with him he would not let her be displaced but would say By your Lordships favour this Place of Right and Custom is for my Mother Boner But to see the base Ingratitude of Boner when he was restored again in Q. Mary's Reign he used Ridley far otherwise than Ridley had used him For he would not allow the Leases which Ridley had made which was in danger to redound to the utter Ruin and Decay of many poor Men. He had a Sister with three Children whom he married to one Shipside a Servant of his and provided for them This Sister Boner turned out of all and endeavoured the Destruction of Shipside had not Bishop Hethe delivered him Ridley in his Offices and in an Iron Chest in his Bed-Chamber had much Plate and considerable Quantities of other Goods all which Boner seized upon Insomuch that Ridley but a little before his Burning wrote a Supplicatory Letter to the Queen to take this into her Consideration That the poor Men might enjoy their Leases and Years renewed for that they were made without Fraud or Covin either for their Parts or his and the old Rents always reserved to the See without any kind of Dammage thereof Or at least that they might be restored to their former Leases and Years and might have rendred to them again such Sums of Money as they paid him and the Chapter as Fines for their Leases and Years taken from them Which Fines he desired the Queen would command might be made good out of the Plate and other Things he left in his House half whereof would disburse those Fines This did so much run in the good Man's Mind that at the time of his Burning he desired the Lord Williams then present to remember this his Suit to the Queen Which he promised him he would do But what Effect it had I cannot tell In the Vacancy of the Church of Rochester by the remove of Ridley the Arch-bishop committed the Spiritualities to William Cook LL. D. April 18. The Nobility and Gentry
dubito quin T. P. jamdudum scripserit ad reginam eique consuluerit quae pro illius regni conservatione regni Christi instauratione facienda judicarit c. That he doubted not he had before now written to the Queen and given her his Advice what he judged fit to be done for the preservation of her Kingdom and for the restoring of the Kingdom of Christ. Yet he would not omit to pray him to do it again and again by his repeated Letters For I know said he how great your Authority is with the English and with the Queen her self Now certainly is the time that you and such as you be should by your Counsels help so pious a Queen and consult for the Safety of so great a Kingdom yea and succour the whole Christian Church every where afflicted and vexed For we know that if Christ's Kingdom be happily introduced into the Kingdom of England no small Aid will thence come to all the other Churches dispersed through Germany Poland and other Countries There is one thing that is wont to be urged against him and which makes him to this Day to be somewhat ill thought of which was that he opposed himself so openly by writing against the Habits prescribed the Clergy and the posture of Kneeling at the Reception of the Holy Sacrament Whereby he incurred the Censure of a meddling Temper and of Ingratitude to that Nation that so kindly had entertained him Concerning the Habits Bucer and he had some Controversy The sum of which on both parts Arch-bishop Parker drew up upon the desire I suppose of Sir William Cecyl about the Year 1565 when that Controversy was hotly renewed again by Humfrey and Sampson This Sum whosoever is minded to see may probably hereafter find it in the Memorialls of that Arch-bishop if God grant Life and Opportunity to me to write them About this time viz. in the Year 1550 or 1551 there was also a Church of Italians constituted in London by the influence and care of our Arch-bishop and Sir William Cecyl under A Lasco's Superintendency This Church consisted of divers Italian Nations as Florentines Genoezes Milanois Venetians and others though several of them joined themselves with this Congregation more out of worldly Ends than Conscience as will appear afterward For they had a kindness for the Mass and could not endure to hear the Pope's Supremacy called in question and inveighed against One Michael Angelo Florio a Florentine by birth was appointed their Preacher probably Brother or Kinsman unto Simon Florio Preacher at the City of Clavenna among the Rhaetii an eminent Professor of the Gospel in those parts who wrote a Letter to Gratalorius an Italian Physician concerning two whole Towns in Calabria utterly destroyed by reason of the rigor of Persecution exercised there and about eight hundred or a thousand of the Inhabitants put to Death because they professed the Gospel Which Letter is extant in Fox in his Table of the Italian Martyrs For the encouragement of this Congregation the Arch-bishop procured the Members of it to be free Denizens to live and traffick here with as much Freedom as natural English Subjects Which they were admitted to by swearing Fidelity and Allegiance For their more easy and convenient dwelling here they often petitioned thâ— King for new Privileges and Immunities as they saw they needed them And such Favour and Countenance was shewn them that they seldom failed of their Suits The Arch-bishop also that their Preacher might be provided for dealt with the Congregation and made them oblige themselves to provide him with all Necessaries as a Dwelling and a competent yearly Salary In the Year 1552 Michael Angelo sued again to our Arch-bishop for some favour to be obtained from the King whether it were for the better establishment of his Church or for some further Immunities to be granted to the Members thereof it doth not appear But this the most Reverend Man readily furthered by writing in that behalf to the Duke of Northumberland from his House at Ford near Canterbury the Duke being I suppose with the King in Progress at this time He likewise dispatched another dated Novemb. 20. the Year abovesaid to the Secretary entreating him to forward that Cause as much as lay in him But however serviceable this their Minister had been unto these Italians in preaching the Gospel to them and soliciting the Arch-bishop for their Benefit yet many of them carried themselves but little obliging to him Whether it were some Misbehaviour or Imprudences in him which he was not altogether void of or his too violent declaiming against the Pope and Popish Doctrines which they were not yet enough ripened in Evangelical Knowledg to receive or that he too roughly charged them with the hardness of their Hearts and backwardness to receive Gospel-Truths as he did use to do but many of them wholly withdrew from him and went to Mass again His Contribution also fell very low not having received above five Pounds in a considerable time from them Hereupon he resorted to the Secretary Making heavy Complaints of his own Poverty that many of his People had forsaken his Assembly spake very slanderously against him and his Ministery and the Gospel which he preached after they saw and heard him in an open manner preaching against the Pope's Doctrines his Tyranny and Hypocrisy and reproving them for their Unbelief and the hardness of their Hearts The too much Vehemency and Passion of this Man and his neglect of informing the Judgments of these Italians in milder and more leisurely Methods I suspect to have been a great cause of this Apostacy But upon this Complaint the Secretary bade the Pastor send him a List of the Names of those that had thus behaved themselves and that he himself would call them before him and discourse with them Accordingly he sent the Names of fourteen in a Letter to the said Secretary withal aggravating to him their Misbehaviour and informing of their daily going to Mass and adding that therefore they being free Denizons and so Subjects to the English Laws ought to be punished as any English-Man would be if he heard Mass. He quoted a place or two in Deuteronomy where those that rebelled against God the Laws and the Judges should be slain without Mercy He subjoined that Elisha by God's Command anointed Iehu to be King for this very purpose that he should wholly root out the House of Ahab and kill all the Priests of Baal And thence makes his uncharitable Conclusion more agreeable to the Religion that he was so hot against that therefore these Italians should be so served since they opposed the Gospel and the King 's Pious Proceedings But it might make one apt not to think over-favourably of this Man a Pastor thus to turn Accuser of his Flock a Professor of the Reformed Religion to require the utmost Rigor of Punishment for differing in Religion I also find
be a Prey Which he calls Malum sanè intolerabile And of the same thing and not long after viz. Iuly 1551. he admonished the Duke of Somerset in a French Letter all of his own hand-writing which because of the Antiquity of it and the Matter it treats of referring to our Church and not being among his printed Epistles I have added in the Appendix In which Letter he excites the Duke to take care that there might be fit and able Ministers fixed in Parishes to teach the People The want whereof he attributed to two Causes The one whereof he made to lie in the Universities and the other in the Matter that we are speaking of That the Revenue of the Cures was withdrawn and dispersed away So that there was nothing to maintain good Men who were fit to perform the Office of true Pastors And hence it came to pass that ignorant Priests were put in which made great Confusion For the Quality of the Persons begat great Contempt of God's Word Advising the Duke to endeavour to bring those that had these Spiritual Possessions to be willing to part with them in as much as they could not prosper in defrauding God's People of their Spiritual Food which they did by hindring the Churches of good Pastors Bucer the King's Divinity-Professor at Cambridg was this Year engaged in a publick Disputation as his Collegue Peter Martyr the King's Professor at Oxon had been there the last Before this Disputation happened Bucer communicated his Purpose to his said Collegue and Friend Who having sufficient experience of the vain-glorious Ends of the Papists in these kinds of Disputations and of their unfair Dealings advised him in a Letter not to engage in it but to decline it On which Letter Arch-bishop Parker into whose Hands it fell wrote this Inscription Ad Bucerum prudens Martyris consilium ut non det se in disputatione cum gloriosulis Thrasonibus But it seems he was too far engaged to avoid it with Reputation nor thought he fit to do it for the vindication and sake of Truth The Questions disputed of and his Antagonists were before mentioned It seems he came off with great Credit for his Friend Martyr in a Letter to him soon after it was over professed a great deal of gladness that his Disputations had that good Success and that it so well happened was by God's Providence Which he said he could scarce have believed to have been a thing possible without Visitors or other grave Judges since the Papists reckoned it enough for their Business only to dispute afterwards studiously dispersing their Lies to their own Advantage and the disparagement of those that disputed against them And therefore Martyr said he wondred not that Christ in the beginning confirmed the Disputations of his Apostles with Miracles MARTINUS BUCERUS S.S. Theologiae apaid Cantabrigienyes Profefsor Regius Natus Selestadij Anno MCCCCXCI Denatus MDLI. Bucer's Friends after they had taken care for giving him an honorable Funeral consulted the Supply of his Widow Wibrand Bucerin that she might be well gratified and presented with some Gratuities that might shew the Respect the Nation had for her learned Husband So the University wrote a Letter to the King and Council concerning Bucer's Death and their respectful Interment of him with the signification of their Desire that his Majesty would send them another able Professor in his room With this University-Letter Dr. Parker wrote another to Sir Iohn Cheke entreating him to present their Letter and that he would particularly speak to the Council and to the Arch-bishop of Canterbury to remember the Widow Sir Iohn Cheke March 9. wrote a Letter in answer to Dr. Parker's which I have placed in the Appendix He therein lamented the loss of this Man commended him for his Depth of Knowledg Earnestness in Religion Fartherliness in Life and Authority in Knowledg He added that the King would provide some grave Learned Man to maintain God's true Learning in that University though he thought in all Points they would not meet with Bucer's like He desired Parker that all Bucer's Books and Writings might be sent up and saved for the King's Majesty except Mrs. Bucer might turn them to better Account some other way These Books and Papers were apprized at one hundred Pounds But she received but fourscore Pounds of those that bought them Which she desired Parker and Haddon the Executors here in England to testify under their Hands that she might shew it to vindicate her Truth and Honesty not to have wronged the Heirs The Library was divided into three parts The King had the Manuscripts which was one part The Dutchess of Somerset I suppose had the greater part of the Books and the Arch-bishop of Canterbury had the remainder for which he for his share paid her forty Pounds The University gave her an hundred Crowns the King an hundred Marks more besides her Husband's half-half-year's Pension though he died before Lady-day when it came due He also allowed for such reasonable Repairs as Bucer had bestowed about the House wherein he lived And March 31. 1551. She had a Passage by Sea granted her with eight Persons in her Company She returned unto Strasburgh whither She retired by Mr. Rich. Hills Merchant the Sum of two hundred twenty six Pounds two Shillings From Strasburgh in February the next Year She wrote a Letter to the Executors wherein She acknowledged their Kindness to her praying God for them in respect of their singular Humanity and Benefits which they had shewed to her Husband and her self and especially when he was dead Miseram me said She in that Letter omnique solatio destitutam non deseruistis sed in vestram me tutelam benigne suscepistis omnia denique Christianae charitatis officia demonstrastis Bucer left a Son named Nathaniel and a Daughter named Elizabeth behind him at Strasburgh when he came into England Which I suppose were all the Children he left surviving him whom he had by a former Wife that died of the Plague there By her he had many more but they died before him As long as Bucer lived there was a dear Correspondence between him and P. Martyr while they were the one at Cambridg and the other at Oxford In the private Library at Benet-College there be still remaining divers Letters from Martyr to him One whereof was writ upon occasion of Bucer's communicating to him his Judgment of the Habits which he had composed for the use of Hoper Which Letter began thus S. P. Perlegi Vir Dei quae de Vestium discrimine doctè piéque scripsisti ac ex illis non mediocrem voluptatem cepi tum quia vera quae praedicas intelligebam tum quod per omnia consentiebant cum his quae ego Londinum ad Hopperum ipsum pridie ejus diei qua tuae mihi redderentur miseram So that hence it appears they were both unanimous for wearing of the Habits enjoined
any Arguments for the Popish Doctrine brought them all to him many whereof were windy and trivial enough and he out of the heap made his Collections as he thought good But Watson and Smith were his chief Assistants The Arch-bishop though the Times now soon after turned and he cast into Prison was very desirous to prepare another Book in Confutation of Marcus Antonius and in Vindication of his own Writing He lived long enough to finish three Parts whereof two unhappily perished in Oxford and the third fell into Iohn Fox's Hands and for ought I know that by this time is perished also But the great desire he had to finish his Answer to that Book was the chief cause that at his last Appearance before the Queen's Commissioners he made his Appeal to a General Council That thereby he might gain some time and leisure to accomplish what he had begun before his Life were taken away which he saw was likely to be within a very short space Otherwise as he writ to his Lawyer who was to draw up his Appeal it was much better for him to die in Christ's Quarrel and to reign with him than to be shut up and kept in that Body Unless it were to continue yet still a while in this Warfare for the Commodity and Profit of his Brethren and to the further advancing of God's Glory Peter Martyr his surviving and learned Friend being solicited by many English-Men by Letter and word of Mouth undertook the answering this Book But before he had finished it an English Divine and Friend of Martyr's with whom he held Correspondence in Q. Mary's Reign wrote him word in the Year 1557. that an Answer to Antonius by some other hand was then in the Press naming the Author Martyr replied That he was rather glad of it than any ways moved or disturbed at it as a disappointment of what he was doing and added that he expected nothing from that Man but what was very exquisite acute and elaborate But that he feared the noise thereof would not hold true And so it proved Whether this Learned Man withdrew his Book that he might give way to that which P. Martyr was writing or whether it were a Flam given out to stop Martyr in his Design it is uncertain But not long after this Learned Italian put forth his Answer He had it under the Press at Zurick in December 1558 and it came out the next Year Wherein as he wrote to Calvin he did unravel and confute all the Sophisms and Tricks of the Bishop of Winchester And it came forth very seasonably as Martyr hoped For hereby the English Papalins might see at this time especially that that Book was not as they boasted hitherto invincible He gave this Title to his Book Defensio Doctrina veteris Apostolicae de S.S. Eucharistiae Sacramento In the Preface to which he shewed How this Work fell to his Lot Not that that most Reverend Father wanted an Assistant for he could easily have managed Gardiner himself For he knew how Cranmer in many and various Disputes formerly had with him came off with Victory and great Praise but because the ABp when in Prison was forced to leave his Answer which he had begun unfinished by reason of his strait keeping having scarce Paper and Ink allowed him and no Books to make use of and being cut off so soon by Death before he could bring to perfection what he had writ Wherein as Martyr said he had harder measure by far from the Papists than Gardiner had from the Protestants in K. Edward's Days when he wrote his Book Gardiner in that Book of his under the Name of M. Constantius had shewn such foul play with Cranmer's Book mangling it and taking Pieces and Scraps of it here and there and confounding the Method of it to supply himself with Objections to give his own Answers to with the most advantage that the Arch-bishop thought that if Learned Foreigners saw but his first Book of the Sacrament as he wrote it it would be vindication enough against Gardiner's new Book against it And therefore he took order to have it translated into the same Language in which Gardiner wrote that is Latin that impartial Strangers might be able to read and judg and Sir Iohn Cheke elegantly performed it for his Friend the Arch-bishop This Book of Cranmer's thus put into Latin with some Additions came forth 1553. Before it he prefixed an Epistle to King Edward VI. dated at Lambeth Idib Mart. the same Year Wherein he said It was his Care of the Lord's Flock committed to him that put him upon renewing and restoring the Lord's Supper according to the Institution of Christ. And that that was the Reason that about three Years ago he set forth a Book in English against the principal Abuses of the Papistical Mass. Which Book had great Success upon the Peoples Minds in bringing them to embrace the Truth Whereby he said he perceived how great the Force of Truth was and understood the Benefits of the Grace of Christ that even the Blind should have their Eyes opened and partake of the Light of Truth as soon as it was revealed and shewed it self clearly to them But that this gave great Offence unto Gardiner then Bishop of Winchester so that he thought nothing was to be done till he had answered the Book supposing that there would be no helper of so declining forsaken a Cause unless he put to his Hand And so the Arch-bishop proceeded to shew how that Bishop first put forth his English Book endeavouring to overthrow the true Doctrine and to restore and bring again into Repute the Mass with all its Superstitions and afterwards his Latin Book under a feigned Name In which Gardiner had so unfairly dealt with the Arch-bishop's Arguments chopping and changing defacing and disfiguring them that he could not know them for his own and all that he might make it serve his own turn the better Insomuch that he resolved to have his own Book translated out of English into Latin that his true Opinion and Mind in this Controversy might the better be apprehended The whole Epistle is writ in a pure elegant Latin Stile with a good sharpness of Wit The publication of this his Latin Book he thought sufficient for the present to entertain the World till he should put forth in Latin also a full Answer to Gardiner which he intended shortly to do To this Latin Book the Arch-bishop occasionally reviewing it while he was in Prison made sundry Annotations and Additions not of any new Arguments but only of more Authorities out of the Fathers and Ancient Writers This valuable Autograph fell into the Hands of some of the English Exiles at Embden it may be by the Means of Bp Scory who was Superintendent of the English Church there or Sir Iohn Cheke who also for some time was in this Place both great Friends of the Arch-bishop In the
for there was that which would comfort him when he should be in such a case as he was then in One asked him concerning the Doctrine of the School-Doctors that Bread remained not after Consecration He replied There was none of the School-Doctors knew what Consecratio did mean And pausing a while said It was Tota actio The whole Action in ministring the Sacrament as Christ did institute it After the Conference with him was ended Yong retiring into another Chamber said to Wilks that Dr. Redman so moved him that whereas he was before in such Opinion of certain things that he would have burned and lost his Life for them now he doubted of them But I see said he a Man shall know more and more by process of time and by reading and hearing others And Mr. Dr. Redman's saying shall cause me to look more diligently for them Ellis Lomas Redman's Servant said he knew his Master had declared to King Henry that Faith only justifieth but that he thought that Doctrine was not to be taught the People lest they should be negligent to do good Works All this I have related of this Divine that I may in some measure preserve the Memory of one of the Learnedest Men of his Time and lay up the dying Words of a Papist signifying so plainly his dislike and disallowance of many of their Doctrines The Sweating-sickness breaking out this Year in great violence whereby the two Sons of the Duke of Suffolk were taken off Letters from the Council dated Iuly 18 were sent to all the Bishops to perswade the People to Prayer and to see God better served It being enacted 1549 That the King might during three Years appoint sixteen Spiritual Men and sixteen Temporal to examine the old Ecclesiastical Laws and to compile a Body of Ecclesiastical Laws to be in force in the room of the old this third Year Octob. 6. a Commission was issued out to the same number of Persons authorizing them to reform the Canon Laws that is to say to eight Bishops eight Divines eight Civil Lawyers and eight Common Whose Names as they occur in an Original are as follow BISHOPS The Arch-bishop of Canterbury the Bishops of London Winchester Ely Exeter Glocester Bath Rochestre DIVINES Mr. Taylor of Lincoln Cox Almoner Parker of Cambridg Latimer Cook Sir Anthony I suppose Peter Martyr Cheke Ioannes a Laseo CIVILIANS Mr. Peter Cecyl Sir Tho. Smith Taylor of Hadeligh Dr. May Mr. Traheron Dr. Lyel Mr. Skinner LAWYERS Justice Hales Justice Bromly Goodrick Gosnal Stamford Carel Lucas Brook Recorder of London It was so ordered that this number should be divided into four distinct Classes or Companies each to consist of two Bishops two Divines to Civilians and two Common-Lawyers And to each Company were assigned their set parts Which when one Company had finished it was transmitted to the other Companies to be by them all well considered and inspected But out of all the number of two and thirty eight especially were selected from each rank two viz. out of the Bishops the Arch-bishop and the Bishop of Ely out of the Divines Cox and Martyr out of the Civilians Taylor and May out of the Common-Lawyers Lucas and Goodrick To whom a new Commission was made Novemb. 9 for the first forming of the Work and preparation of the Matter And the Arch-bishop supervised the whole Work This Work they plied close this Winter But lest they should be straitned for time the Parliament gave the King three Years longer for accomplishing this Affair So Feb. 2. A Letter was sent from the Council to make a new Commission to the Arch-bishop and to the other Bishops and Learned Men Civilians and Lawyers for the establishment of the Ecclesiastical Laws according to the Act of Parliament made in the last Session This was a very noble Enterprize and well worthy the Thoughts of our excellent Arch-bishop Who with indefatigable Pains had been both in this and the last King's Reign labouring to bring this Matter about and he did his part for he brought the Work to perfection But it wanted the King's Ratification which was delayed partly by Business and partly by Enemies Bishops Consecrated August the 30 th Iohn Scory Ponet being translated to Winchester was consecrated Bishop of Rochester at Croyden by the Arch-bishop of Canterbury assisted by Nicolas Bishop of London and Iohn Suffragan of Bedford Miles Coverdale was at the same time and place Consecrated Bishop of Exon all with their Surplices and Copes and Coverdale so habited also CHAP. XXVII The Articles of Religion OUR Arch-bishop and certain of the Bishops and other Divines but whom by Name I find not were this Year chiefly busied in composing and preparing a Book of Articles of Religion which was to contain what should be publickly owned as the Sum of the Doctrine of the Church of England This the Arch-bishop had long before this bore in his Mind as excellently serviceable for the creating of a Concord and Quietness among Men and for the putting an End to Contentions and Disputes in Matters of Religion These Articles the Arch-bishop was the Penner or at least the great Director of with the assistance as is very probable of Bishop Ridley And so he publickly owned afterwards in his Answer to certain Interrogatories put to him by Queen Mary's Commissioners viz. That the Catechism the Book of Articles and the Book against Winchester were his Doings These Articles were in number Forty two and were agreed to in the Convocation 1552. And in the Year 1553 they were published by the King's Authority both in Latin and English After they were finished he laboured to have the Clergy subscribe them but against their Wills he compelled none though afterwards some charged him falsly to do so Which he utterly denied as he declared before the said Queen's Commissioners But to enter into some Particulars concerning so eminent a Matter Ecclesiastical as this was In the Year 1551 the King and his Privy-Council ordered the Archbishop to frame a Book of Articles of Religion for the preserving and maintaining Peace and Unity of Doctrine in this Church that being finish'd they might be set forth by Publick Authority The Arch-bishop in obedience hereunto drew up a set of Articles which were delivered to certain other Bishops to be inspected and subscribed I suppose by them Before them they lay until this Year 1552. Then May 2. a Letter was sent from the Council to our Arch-bishop to send the Articles that were delivered the last Year to the Bishops and to signify whether the same were set forth by any Publick Authority according to the Minutes The Arch-bishop accordingly sent the Articles and his Answer unto the Lords of the Council In September I find the Articles were again in his Hands Then he set the Book in a better Order and put Titles upon each of the Articles and some Additions for the better perfecting of the Work and supply
of that which lacked And so transmitted the Book again from Croydon Septemb. 19. to Sir William Cecyl and Sir Iohn Cheke the one the King 's Principal Secretary and the other his Tutor being the two great Patrons of the Reformation at the Court Desiring them together to take these Articles into their serious Considerations for he well knew them to be both wise and good Men and very well seen in Divine Learning And he referred it to their Wisdoms whether they thought best to move the King's Majesty therein before his coming to Court as though he conceived the King might make some demur in so weighty an Affair till he should consult with the Metropolitan in order to the coming to a Resolution or that there were some great Persons about the King that might cast some Scruples and Objections in his Mind concerning it which he by his Presence might prevent or be ready at hand to resolve Cecyl and Cheke thought it more convenient the Arch-bishop should offer them to the King himself So coming to Court soon after he delivered the Book to the King and moved him for their publishing and due observation And so leaving them before the King and Council they were then again delivered unto certain of the King's Chaplains who made some Alterations For I find that Octob. 2. a Letter was directed to Mr. Harley Bill Horn Grindal Pern and Knox to consider certain Articles which must be these Articles of Religion exhibited to the King's Majesty to be subscribed by all such as shall be admitted to be Preachers or Ministers in any part of the Realm and to make report of their Opinions touching the same The Time of the Year declined now towards the latter end of November and the Arch-bishop being retired down from Croydon to his House at Ford near Canterbury the Privy-Council Novemb. 20. dispatched by a Messenger the Articles unto him to be reviewed and for his last Hand that they might be presented before the Convocation and allowed there and so be published by the Royal Authority The Arch-bishop received the Book and Letter from the Council Novemb. 23. And making some Notes upon it enclosed them in a Letter to the Lords and sent them together with the Book the next day beseeching them to prevail with the King that all Bishops should have Authority to cause their respective Clergy to subscribe it And then he trusted as he wrote that such a Concord and Quietness in Religion would soon follow as otherwise would not be in many Years And thereby God would be glorified the Truth advanced and their Lordships rewarded by him as the setters forth of his true Word and Gospel This pious Letter may be read in the Appendix The King went a Progress this Summer and the Arch-bishop retired to Croydon where I find him in Iuly August and September And thence Octob. 11. he went to Ford to spend some time in his Diocess Now he was absent from the Court and the King abroad at that distance that he could not frequently wait upon him and be present at the Council his Enemies were at work to bring him into trouble as we shall see by and by CHAP. XXVIII Persons nominated for Irish Bishopricks THERE were certain Bishopricks in Ireland about this time vacant one whereof was that of Armagh And it was thought convenient to have them filled by Divines out of England In the Month of August the Arch-bishop was consulted with for this that so by the Influence of very wise and learned Men and good Preachers the Gospel might be the better propagated in that dark Region But because it was foreseen to be difficult to procure any English Men so endowed to go over thither therefore Secretary Cecyl being then with the King in his Progress sent a Letter to the Arch-bishop at Croyden to nominate some worthy Persons for those Preferments and whom he thought would be willing to undertake them He returned him the Names of Four viz. Mr. Whitehead of Hadley Mr. Turner of Canterbury Sir Thomas Rosse and Sir Robert Wisdome He said He knew many others in England that would be meet Persons for those Places but very few that would gladly be perswaded to go thither For it seems the English were never very fond of living in Ireland But he added concerning these four which he had named That he thought they being ordinarily called for Conscience-sake would not refuse to bestow the Talent committed unto them wheresoever it should please the King's Majesty to appoint them He recommended likewise a fifth Person for this Promotion one Mr. Whitacre a wise and well-learned Man as he characters him who was Chaplain to the Bishop of Winchester Poynet But he doubted whether he would be perswaded to take it upon him It may not be amiss to make some enquiry who and what those Four before-mentioned Persons were Mr. Whithead was an Exile in Queen Mary's Reign and Pastor of the English Congregation at Frankford And at the Conference in the beginning of Q. Elizabeth's Government he was one of the Nine Disputants on the Protestant side and one of the appointed Eight to revise the Service-Book The Writer of the Troubles at Frankford mentions three viz. Coverdale Turner and this Whitehead of whom he saith That they were the most ancient Preachers of the Gospel and the most ancient Fathers of this our Country and that from their Pens as well as their Mouths most of Queen Elizabeth's Divines and Bishops first received the Light of the Gospel Why Cranmer should stile him VVhithead of Hadley I do not apprehend seeing Dr. Rowland Taylor his Chaplain was now Parâ—on of Hadley who not long after was there burnt And one Yeomans was Taylor 's Curat there who also was afterwards burnt at Norwich But I suppose this was some other Hadley I find two about this Time bearing the Name of Turner both eminent Men and Preachers The one was named William Turner a Doctor in Physick and greatly befriended by Sir Iohn Cheke and Sir William Cecyl This Man a Native of Northumberland was the first English Man that compiled an Herbal which was the Ground-work of that which Gerard laid the last Hand unto He was a Retainer to the Duke of Somerset in Edward the Sixth's Time and was Physician in ordinary to his Family And the Year before this viz. 1551 I find him Dean of Wells The other was Richard Turner a Staffordshire-Man in former time Curate of Chartam in Kent and commonly called Turner of Canterbury living in the family of Mr. Morice the Arch-bishop's Secretary of whom afterwards who held the Impropriation of that Parsonage and had presented this Man to the Vicarage For his free and bold preaching against Popish Errors and asserting the King's Supremacy and for the extraordinary Success of his Ministry in bringing Multitudes of People in those Parts out of Ignorance and Superstition he was put to much Trouble and Danger He was
first complained of to the King And being brought up the Arch-bishop and other Ecclesiastical Commissioners were commanded to examine him upon certain Articles But by the secret Favour of the Arch-bishop and his own prudent Answers he was then discharged Soon after upon some false Reports told of him King Henry was so offended that he sent for the Arch-bishop willing him to have him whipt out of the Country But the Arch-bishop pacified the King and sent him Home the second time Afterwards a third time his old Enemies the Popish Clergy got him convented before the Privy-Council and committed for Doctrines preached by him before he came into Kent The Arch-bishop being then down in his Diocess Turner was sent back to him with an Order to recant To whom when his fast Friend and Patron Mr. Morice had applied himself in his behalf the Arch-bishop himself being now under some Cloud dared not to interpose because as he then said it had been put into the King's Head that he was the great Favourer and Maintainer of all the Hereticks in the Kingdom Morice then that he might prevent this Recantation if possible which would have been such a Reflection to the Doctrine he before had preached addrest his Letters to Sir Anthony Denny Gentleman of the King's Bed-Chamber and Sir William Butts his Physician relating at large Turner's Casâ— And by their means the King became better informed of the Man and in fine commanded him to be retained as a faithful Subject This Story is at large related by Fox And this I judg to be that Turner whom the Arch-bishop nominated for Ireland having lived long in his Diocess and so well known to him and whom he had I suppose removed to Canterbury to a Prebend or some other Preferment there Here he did this remarkable and bold piece of Service that when about three Years past the Rebels were up in Kent he then preached twice in the Camp near Canterbury for which the Rebels were going to hang him But God preserved him In Queen Mary's time he fled to Basil where he expounded upon S. Iames the Hebrews and the Ephesians to the Exiles there when Iames Pilkington expounded Ecclesiastes and both Epistles of of Peter and the Galatians And Bentham the Acts of the Apostles Thomas Rosse or Rose was also as memorable a Man very eminent both for his Preachings and Sufferings He was a West-country Man but by Providence was removed into Suffolk And at Hadley had preached against Purgatory and worshipping Images about the time that Bilney and Latimer did the like in Cambridg which was five and twenty or thirty Years past whereby he had brought many to the knowledg of the Truth in that Town About the Year 1532 when certain Persons out of their Zeal against Idolatry had stolen by Night the Rood out of the Church at Dover-court in Essex for which being found guilty of Felony they were hanged Rose seemed to have been privy hereunto For with the Rood they conveyed away the Slippers the Coat and the Tapers belonging to it which Coat Rose burnt Whether for this or some other thing he was complained of to the Council and brought before them and by the Bishop of Lincoln was committed to Prison Where he lay for some Days and Nights with both his Legs in an high pair of Stocks his Body lying along on the Ground Thence he was removed to Lambeth in the Year that Cranmer was Consecrated which was 1533 who set him at liberty Afterward he was admitted by Crumwel to be his Chaplain that thereby he might get a Licence to preach After various tossings from Place to Place for safety of his Life he fled into Flanders and Germany and came to Zurick and remained with Bullinger and to Basil where he was entertained by Grineus After some time he returned back into England But was glad to fly beyond Sea again Three Years after in his Voyage back to his own Country again he was taken Prisoner by some French and carried into Diep where he was spoiled of all he had His Ransom was soon after paid by a well-disposed Person who also brought him over into England Then the Earl of Sussex received him and his Wife and Child privately into his House But when this was known the Earl sent him a secret Letter to be gone And so he lurked in London till the Death of King Henry VIII King Edward gave him the Living of VVest-Ham near London in Essex Being deprived upon Queen Mary's coming to the Crown he was sometime Preacher to a Congregation in London But was taken at one of their Meetings in Bow-Church-yard Which I suppose was in the Year 1555. For then he was in the Tower and thence in the Month of May by the Council's Letters he was delivered to the Sheriff of Norfolk to be conveyed and delivered to the Bishop of Norwich and he either to reduce him to recant or to proceed against him according to Law Much Imprisonment and many Examinations he underwent both from the Bishops of Winchester and Norwich but escaped at last by a great Providence beyond Sea where he tarried till the Death of Queen Mary And after these his Harassings up and down in the World he was at last in Queen Elizabeth's happy Reign quietly settled at Luton in Bedfordshire where he was Preacher and lived to a very great Age. The fourth was Robert Wisdome a Man eminent as the rest both for his exemplary Conversation and for his Preaching together with his Sufferings attending thereon In Henry the Eighth his Reign he was a Person of Fame among the Professors of the Gospel in the South Parts of the Nation whence after many painful Labours and Persecutions he fled into the North as did divers other Preachers of the pure Religion in those Times There in Staffordshire he was one of those that were entertained by Iohn Old a pious Professor and Harbourer of good Men and Thomas Becon was another who was taken up with Bradford in the beginning of Queen Mary's Reign and committed to the Tower Of this Old the said Becon in a Treatise of his printed in Edward the sixth his Reign gives this Character That he was to him and VVisdom as Iason was to Paul and Silas He received us joyfully into his House and liberally for the Lord's Sake ministred to our Necessities And as he begun so did he continue a right hearty Friend and dearly loving Brother so long as we remained in the Country While VVisdom was here he was ever vertuously occupied and suffered no Hour to pass without some good Fruit employing himself now in Writing as he had before in Preaching Besides other Books formerly writ by him he penned here a very godly and fruitful Exposition upon certain Psalms of David Of the which he translated some into English Metre There is one of them and I think no more still remaining in our ordinary singing Psalms namely the hundred twenty fifth
probably may not be unacceptable to curious Persons Which Purchases when we consider we might be ready to make a stand to resolve our selves how the Arch-bishop could represent his Condition so mean as he did in the Letter before-mentioned as though he feared he should die a Beggar But it will unriddle this if we think how the Arch-bishoprick had been fleeced by King Henry VIII in ten Years before insomuch that the Rents were less by an hundred and fifty Pounds per Annum than they were before besides the loss of Fines and other accidental Benefits as it is mentioned by the Arch-bishop in his Letter Add those extraordinary Expences he was at in the maintenance of Divines and Scholars Strangers that were Exiles for Religion and the Salaries and Pensions and Gratuities sent to Learned Men abroad besides his great and liberal House-keeping and constant Table and large Retinue But to make appear more particularly in this place how K. Henry pared his Revenue I will give one Instance of what was past away at one clap by Exchange which was indeed so considerable that it was commonly called The great Exchange This way of exchanging Lands was much used in those Times wherein the Princes commonly made good Bargains for themselves and ill Ones for the Bishopricks This Exchange made by Cranmer with the King was on the first day of December in the twenty ninth Year of his Reign being the very Year of the Suppression of the greater Abbies and Religious Convents They were the ancient Demeans belonging to the Arch-bishoprick consisting of many noble Manors whereof some had Palaces annexed to them I shall name only those that lay in the County of Kent as I find them dispersed in Philpot's Book of Kent I. The Manor and Palace of Maidstone Which Palace Lâ—land saith was once a Castle II. The Manor and Palace of Charing III. Wingham IV. Wingham-Bâ—rton in the 〈◊〉 of Alresford But in this Philpot is mistaken for thâ—s was 〈…〉 Edward Bainton for ninety nine Years by means of the King'â— own Solicitation to the Arch-bishop V. Wrotham VI. Saltwood that had in times past a magnificent Castle and Park and many Manors held of it by Knights Service which made it called an Honour VII Tenham VIII Bexley IX Aldington Where was a Seat for the Arch-bishop a Park and a Chase for Deer called Aldington-Frith Besides Clive or Cliff and Malingden a Manor appendant thereunto which King Henry took away from this See and Bishop without any Satisfaction as far as I can find Also Pynner Heyes Harrow Mortlake c. were part of this great Exchange In lieu of these Demeans past over to the Crown by way of Exchange the King conveyed several Manors to the Arch-bishop all which had appertained to the lately dissolved Religious Houses Namely these among others I. Pising a parcel of the Abbey of S. Radigunds II. Brandred another Manor belonging to the said Abbey III. The College of Bredgar IV. Raculver another Abbey suppress'd V. Dudmanscomb belonging to the Priory of S. Martins in Dover One Author viz. Kilburn that hath wrote of Kent makes Cranmer also to have made over to the King the sumptuous Palace of Otford built by Arch-bishop VVarham which cost him thirty three thousand Pounds a vast Sum in those Days as Lambard tells us Philpot another Writer of that County saith That this was incorporated into the Revenue of the Crown by the Builder himself Arch-bishop VVarham about the twelfth Year of that King's Reign together with the Magnificent Seat of Knoll near Sevenoke exchanging both with the King for other Lands to extinguish the Passions of such as looked with regret and desire upon the Patrimony of the Church But it appears by a Writing of Cranmer's own Secretary that this Arch-bishop parted with both Otford and Knoll at once to the King after he had possessed them some Years and not VVarham as Philpot mistakes The World is apt to blame Cranmer for parting with these Revenues of the See But surely it was a true Apology that the Author before-named made for the Arch-bishop's great Exchange namely Because he finding that the spreading Demeans of the Church were in danger to be torn off by the Talons of Avarice and Rapine to mortify the growing Appetites of Sacrilegious Cormorants exchanged them with the Crown Which may be enough to stop any Clamours against this most Reverend Prelat for this his doing Especially considering what I shall add upon this Argument hereafter from his own Secretary His Care and Concern for the Welfare of the English Church made him ever most earnestly to love the King and to have a very tender Regard for the Safety of his Person Who in the Summer of this Year as was hinted before went a Progress accompanied by the Duke of Northumberland brought about probably by him to get more into the King's Affections and to have his own Designs the better to take effect and with the less Opposition and Controll and possibly that the King might be the further off from the Arch-bishop to consult withal But he had now a more especial Concern upon him for his Majesty at this Time as though his Mind had prophetically presaged some Evil to befal the King in that Progress and indeed it was the last Progress that ever he made And so methinks do these Expressions of the Arch-bishop sound in a Letter dated in Iuly to Cecyl then attending the Court Beseeching Almighty God to preserve the King's Majesty with all his Council and Family and send him well to return from his Progress And in a Letter the next Month He thanked Cecyl for his News but especially said he for that ye advertise me that the King's Majesty is in good Health Wherein I beseech God long to continue his Highness And when in the latter end of the following Month the Gests that is the Stages of his Majesty's Progress were altered which looked like some ill Design the Arch-bishop entreated Cecyl to send him the new resolved-upon Gests from that time to the end that he might from time to time know where his Majesty was adding his Prayer again for him That God would preserve and prosper him CHAP. XXX His Care for the Vacancies Falls Sick WHILE the King was thus abroad and the Arch-bishop absent unworthy or disaffected Men were in a fairer probability of getting Promotions in the Church while he was not at hand for to nominate fit Men to the King and to advise him in the bestowing the vacant Dignities and Benefices The Arch-bishop knew very well how much Learning and Sobriety contributed towards the bringing the Nation out of Popery and that nothing tended so effectually to continue it as the contrary This Matter the Arch-bishop seemed to have discoursed at large with Secretary Cecyl at parting Who therefore by a Letter sent to the said Arch-bishop then at his House at Ford desired him to send him up a
Tonstal late Bishop of Durham should have the Liberty of the Tower where he continued till the Time of Queen Mary But we will look back to learn for what Cause this severe Punishment was inflicted upon this Reverend grave Bishop and the rather because the Bp of Sarum could not find as he writes what the Particulars were In the Year 1550 a Conspiracy was hatching in the North to which the Bishop was privy at least if not an Abetter And he wrote to one Menvile in those Parts relating to the same This Menvile himself related unto the Council and produced the Bishop's Letter Which was afterwards by the Duke of Somerset withdrawn and concealed as it seems out of kindness to Tonstal But upon the Duke's Troubles when his Cabinet was searched this Letter was found Upon which they proceeded against Tonstal This is the sum of what is found in the Council-Book Viz. May 20. 1551. The Bishop of Durham is commanded to keep his House Aug. 2. He had licence to walk in the Fields Decemb. 20. Whereas the Bishop of Durham about Iuly 1550 was charged by Vivian Menvile to have consented to a Conspiracy in the North for the making a Rebellion and whereas for want of a Letter written by the said Bishop to the said Menvile whereupon great trial of this Matter depended the final Determination of the Matter could not be proceeded unto and the Bishop only commanded to keep his House the same Letter hath of late been found in a Casket of the Duke of Somerset's after his last Apprehension The said Bishop was sent for and this Day appeared before the Council and was charged with the Letter which he could not deny but to be his own Hand-writing and having little to say for himself he was then sent to the Tower there to abide till he should be delivered by Process of Law Agreeable to this is that King Edward writes in his Journal Decemb. 20. The Bishop of Durham was for concealment of Treason written to him and not disclosed sent to the Tower In the latter end of the Year 1551 a Parliament sitting it was thought convenient to bring in a Bill into the House of Lords attainting him for Misprision of Treason But Arch-bishop Cranmer spake freely against it not satisfied it seems with the Charge laid against him But it past and the Arch-bishop protested But when it was carried down to the Commons they would not proceed upon it not satisfied with the bare Depositions of Evidences but required that the Accusers might be brought Face to Face And so it went no further But when the Parliament would not do Tonstal's Business a Commission was issued out to do it as is above spoken In the mean time that the Bishoprick might not want a due Care taken of it during the Bishop's Restraint Feb. 18. 1551 a Letter was sent from the Council to the Prebendaries of Durham to conform themselves to such Orders in Religion and Divine Service standing with the King's Proceedings as their Dean Mr. Horn shall set forth whom the Lords required them to receive and use well as being sent to them for the Weal of the Country by his Majesty CHAP. XXXIII The new Common-Prayer The Arch-bishop in Kent THE Book of Common-Prayer having the last Year been carefully Revised and Corrected by the Arch-bishop and others the Parliament in April this Year enacted that it should begin to be used every where at All-Saints Day next And accordingly the Book was printed against the Time and began to be read in S. Paul's Church and the like throughout the whole City But because the Posture of Kneeling was excepted against by some and the words used by the Priest to the Communicant at the reception of the Bread gave Scruple as though the Adoration of the Host were intended therefore to take off this and to declare the contrary to be the Doctrine of this Church Octob. 27. a Letter was sent from the Council to the Lord-Chancellor to cause to be joined to the Book of Common-Prayer lately set forth a Declaration signed by the King touching the Kneeling at the receiving of the Communion Which in all probability was done by the Motion of the Arch-bishop who in his late Book had taken such pains to confute the Adoration and now thought it necessary that some publick Declaration should be made in the Church-Service against it So now the first of November being come Dr. Ridley the Bishop of London was the first that celebrated the new Service in S. Paul's Church which he did in the Forenoon And then in his Rochet only without Cope or Vestment preached in the Choir And in the Afternoon he preached at Pauls-Cross the Lord-Mayor and Aldermen and Citizens present His Sermon tended to the setting forth this new Edition of the Common-Prayer He continued preaching till almost five a Clock so that the Mayor and the rest went home by Torch-light By this Book of Common-Prayer all Copes and Vestments were forbidden throughout England The Prebendaries of St. Pauls left off their Hoods and the Bishops their Crosses c. as by Act of Parliament is more at large set forth Provision also was made for the King's French Dominions that this Book with the Amendments should be used there And the Bishop of Ely Lord Chancellor a great forwarder of good Reformation procured a learned French-man who was a Doctor of Divinity carefully to correct the former French Book by this English new One in all the Alterations Additions and Omissions thereof For the first Common-Prayer Book also was in French for the use of the King's French Subjects Being translated by Commandment of Sir Hugh Paulet Governour of Calais And that Translation overseen by the Lord Chancellor and others at his Appointment The Benefit of this last Book was such that one of the French Congregation in London sought by the Means of A Lasco's Interest with Secretary Cecyl for a Licence under the King's Letters Patents to translate this Common-Prayer and the Administration of Sacraments and to print it for the use of the French Islands of Iersey and Guernsey But Cecyl after a Letter received from A Lasco in August to that effect not willing to do this of his own Head and reckoning it a proper Matter to be considered by the Arch-bishop who were to be intrusted with the translating of such a Book desired him being now at Ford to give him his Advice and Judgment herein both as to the Work and as to the Benefit To whom the Arch-bishop gave this Answer That the Commodity that might arise by printing of the Book was meet to come to them who had already taken the Pains in translating the same Enforming the Secretary who they were namely those formerly and now of late employed by Sir Hugh Paulet and the Lord-Chancellor But I find this Book was not presently finished being not printed till the Year 1553 for the Use of Iersey and Guernsey
Notwithstanding this cleansing of the Church from Superstition and Idolatry and bringing in the Knowledg of the Gospel by the Arch-bishop's constant Pains and Study the People generally even the Professors themselves were bad enough as to their Morals and Religion had yet got but little hold of them A clear sight of the Behaviour of these Times may be seen by what Tho. Becon a Chaplain of Cranmer's writ in his Preface to a Book put forth in those Days What a nomber of fals Christians lyve ther at thys present day unto the excedynge dishonour of the Christen Profession which with theyr Mouth confesse that they know God but with theyr Dedes they utterly denye hym and are abhominable disobedient to the Word of God and utterlye estranged from al good Works What a swarm of grosse Gospellers have we also among us which can prattle of the Gospel very fynely talk much of the Justification of Faith crake very stoutly of the free remissyon of all theyr Sins by Christ's Blood avaunce themselves to be of the Number of those which are predestinate unto Eternal Glory But how far do theyr Life differ from al true Christianitie They are puffed up with al kynd of Pryde they swel with al kynd of Envy Malice Hatred and Enmity against theyr Neghbour they brenne with unquencheable Lusts of Carnal Concupiscence they walowe and tumble in al kynd of beastly Pleasures theyr gredy covetous Affects are insatiable thenlarging of theyr Lordshipps thencreasyng of theyr Substance the scrapyng together of theyr Worldly Possessions infynite and knoweth no End In fyne all theyr Endeavours tend unto thys End to shew themselves very Ethnycks and utterly estraunged from God in theyr Conversation although in Words they otherwise pretend As for theyr Almes-Dedes theyr Praying theyr Watchyng theyr Fastyng and such other Godly Exercises of the Spirit they are utterly banished from these rude and gross Gospellers All theyr Religion consisteth in Words and Disputations in Christen Acts and Godly Dedes nothyng at all These evil Manners of the Professors themselves looked with so sad a Face that it made the best Men assuredly expect a Change and woful Times to follow Septemb. 27. A Letter was sent from the Council to the Arch-bishop to examine a Sect newly sprung up in Kent Whereof there was now a Book of Examinations sent him and to commune with a Man and a Woman the Informers bearers of the Letter who could inform him somewhat of the Matter And to take such order in the same according to the Commission that these Errors might not be suffered thus to overspread the King's Faithful Subjects What this Sect was appeareth not The Anabaptists were taken notice of and a Commission issued out against them some Years before These were Sectaries more new and whereof the Council very lately was informed It may be they were of the Family of Love or David George his Sect who made himself some-time Christ and some-time the Holy Ghost For a little before these Times divers Sects sprang up under the Profession of the Gospel in High and Low Germany some whereof dispersed themselves into England Which Sects began to do so much hurt to the Reformation among us that the Author before-mentioned laments it in these words What wicked and ungodly Opinions are there sown now-a-days of the Anabaptists Davidians Libertines and such other pestilent Sects in the Hearts of the People unto the great Disquietness of Christ's Church moving rather unto Sedition than unto pure Religion unto Heresy than unto things Godly The examination of this new Sect was one of the Businesses the Arch-bishop was employed in while he was in his Retirement at his House near Canterbury Another was the sitting upon a Commission to him and other Gentlemen of Kent for enquiry after such as had embezelled the Plate and Goods belonging to Chauntries c. given by the Parliament to the King and converting them to their own uses But this being somewhat an odious Work he was not very forward to enter upon especially because he thought whatsoever he and the other Commissioners should recover would be but swallowed up by the Duke of Northumberland and his Friends and the King be little the better But because he did not make more haste he was charged by his Enemies at Court as a neglecter of the King's Business Which cost him a Letter in excuse of himself to the said Duke signifying that he omitted this Business a while till the Gentlemen and Justices of Peace of Kent who where then mostly at London were come home Decemb. 2. A Letter was sent from the Council to the Arch-bishop to grant out a Warrant Ad Installandum for the Bishop of VVorcester and Glocester without paying any Fees for the same because he paid Fees for another Mandate which served to no purpose Febr. 20. An Order was sent to the Arch-bishop from the Council to examine the Vicar of Beden in the County of Berks according to an Information inclosed and to advertise the Lords of his Proceedings therein What this Vicar's Crime was I know not but I observe about these Times the Priests and Curats were very busy Men and would take liberty sometimes to speak against the King's Proceedings or his Arch-bishop with bitterness enough and sometimes to vent fond Opinions so that oftentimes they were fetched up to the Council-board and after an Appearance or two referred to the Arch-bishop to examine and punish as being Matters relating to Religion and so proper for his Cognizance About the latter end of this Year Thomas Sampson was preferred to the Deanery of Chichester having been Parson of Alhallowes-Bredstreet London February the 2 d A Letter was sent from the Privy-Council to the Arch-bishop to bestow the said Living upon Mr. Knox who was one of the King's Chaplains and in good esteem in the Court for his Gift of Preaching This Knox was the Man whose Name was so dashed in the King's Journal where the Names of the King 's six Chaplains were inserted that Bishop Burnet could not read it The Council bare a great favour to him as appears by those several Letters they wrote in his behalf One was mentioned before sent to the Arch-bishop for a Living in London but in that Knox succeeded not the Arch-bishop preferring Laurence Saunders afterwards a Martyr thereunto Knox being sent this Year into the North one of the King 's Itinerary Preachers a Warrant dated Octob. 27 was granted from the Council to four Gentlemen to pay to him his Majesty's Preacher in the North so he is stiled forty Pounds as his Majesty's Reward And again Decemb. 9 a Letter was sent from the Council to the Lord VVharton who was Lord VVarden in the Northern Borders in commendation of Mr. Knox. And the next Year viz. 1553 being returned out of the North and being then in Buckinghamshire that he might find the more acceptance and respect there the
Synodal Authority unto them committed And moreover he desired the Prolocutor would be a Means unto the Lords that some of those that were Learned and the publishers of this Book might be brought into the House to shew their Learning that moved them to set forth the same and that Dr. Ridley and Rogers and two or three more might be Licensed to be present at this Disputation and be associate with them But this would not be allowed The last thing we hear of concerning our Arch-bishop in this King's Reign was his denial to comply with the new Settlement of the Crown devised and carried on by the domineering Duke of Northumberland for the Succession of Iane Daughter to Gray Duke of Suffolk whom he had married to one of his Sons This he did both oppose and when he could not hinder refused to have any hand in it First he did his endeavour to stop this Act of the King He took the boldness to argue much with the King about it once when the Marquess of Northampton and the Lord Darcy Lord Chamberlain were present And moreover he signified his desire to speak with the King alone that so he might be more free and large with him But that would not be suffered But if it had he thought he should have brought off the King from his Purpose as he said afterward But for what he had said to the King the Duke of Northumberland soon after told him at the Council-Table That it became him not to speak to the King as he had done when he went about to disswade him from his Will To the Council the Arch-bishop urged the entailing of the Crown by K. Henry upon his two Daughters and used many grave and pithy Reasons to them for the Lady Mary's Legitimation when they argued against it But the Council replied That it was the Opinion of the Judges and the King 's Learned Counsel in the Law that that Entailing could not be prejudicial unto the King and that he being in possession of the Crown might dispose of it as he would This seemed strange unto the Arch-bishop Yet considering it was the Judgment of the Lawyers and he himself unlearned in the Law he thought it not seemly to oppose this Matter further But he refused to sign Till the King himself required him to set his Hand to his Will and saying That he hoped he alone would not stand out and be more repugnant to his Will than all the rest of the Council were Which words made a great Impression upon the Arch-bishop's tender Heart and grieved him very sore out of the dear Love he had to that King and so he subscribed And when he did it he did it unfeignedly All this he wrote unto Queen Mary To which I will add what I meet with in one of my Manuscripts When the Council and the chief Judges had set their Hands to the King's Will last of all they sent for the Arch-bishop who had all this while stood off requiring him also to subscribe the same Will as they had done Who answered That he might not without Perjury For so much as he was before sworn to my Lady Mary by King Henry's Will To whom the Council answered That they had Consciences as well as he and were also as well sworn to the King's Will as he was The Arch-bishop answered I am not judg over any Man's Conscience but mine own only For as I will not condemn their Fact no more will I stay my Fact upon your Conscience seeing that every Man shall answer to God for his own Deeds and not for other Mens And so he refused to subscribe till he had spoken with the King herein And being with the King he told the Abp that the Judges had informed him that he might lawfully bequeath his Crown to the Lady Iane and his Subjects receive her as Queen notwithstanding their former Oath to King Henry's Will Then the Arch-bishop desired the King that he might first speak with the Judges Which the King gently granted And he spake with so many of them as were at that time at the Court and with the King's Attorney also Who all agreed in one that he might lawfully subscribe to the King's Will by the Laws of the Realm Whereupon he returning to the King by his Commandment granted at last to set his Hand From the whole Relation of this Affair we may note as the Honesty so the Stoutness and Courage of the Arch-bishop in the management of himself in this Cause against Northumberland who hated him and had of a long time sought his Ruin and the Ingratitude of Q. Mary or at least the Implacableness of Cranmer's Enemies that the Queen soon yielded her Pardon to so many of the former King's Council that were so deep and so forward in this Business but would not grant it him who could not obtain it till after much and long suit And that it should be put into two Acts of her Parliament to make him infamous for a Traitor to Posterity that he and the Duke of Northumberland were the Devisers of this Succession to deprive Q. Mary of her Right Which was so palpably false and untrue on the Arch-bishop's part But this was no question Winchester's doing through whose Hands being now Lord Chancellor all these Acts of Parliament past and the wording of them Finally I have only one thing more to add concerning this matter Which is that besides the Instrument of Succession drawn up by the King's Council Learned in the Law signed by himself and 32 Counsellors and dated Iune 21 according to the History of the Reformation there was another Writing which was also signed by 24 of the Council And to this I find our Arch-bishop's Name Herein they promised by their Oaths and Honours being commanded so to do by the King to observe all and every Article contained in a Writing of the King 's own Hand touching the said Succession and after copied out and delivered to certain Judges and Learned Men to be written in Order This Writing thus signed with the other Writing of the King being his Devise for the Succession may be seen in the Appendix as I drew them out of an Original CHAP. XXXV The King dies THE good King made his most Christian departure Iuly the 6 th to the ineffable loss of Religion and the Kingdom being in aâ—â— likelihood by his early Beginnings to prove an incomparable Prince to the English Nation It was more than whispered that he died by Poison And however secretly this was managed it was very remarkable that this Rumour ran not only after his Death but even a Month or two before it Reports spred that he was dead For which as being rash Speeches against the King they studiously took up many People and punished them Before his Father K. Henry had him his only Son lawfully begotten it was 28 Years from his first entrance upon his Kingdom And
this Heir made amends for the Nation 's so long expectation of a Prince His singular Excellency in all kind of Princely Towardliness to use the words of one who lived in those Times was such that no Place no Time no Cause no Book no Person either in publick Audience or else in private Company made any mention of him but thought himself even of very Conscience bound to powdre the same with manifold Praises of his incomparable Vertues and Gifts of Grace And again How happy are we English-Men of such a King in whose Childhood appeareth as perfect Grace Vertue godly Zeal desire of Literature Gravity Prudence Justice and Magnanimity as hath heretofore been found in Kings of most mature Age of full Discretion of antient Fame and of passing high Estimation And again That God hath of singular Favour and Mercy towards this Realm of England sent your Grace to reign over us the thing it self by the whole Process doth declare The Arch-bishop his Godfather took exceeding complacency in a Prince of such Hopes and would often congratulate Sir Iohn Cheke his School-master having such a Scholar even with Tears His Instructors would sometimes give Account to the Arch-bishop of his Proficiency in his Studies a thing that they knew would be acceptable to him Thus did Dr. Cox his Tutor in a Letter acquaint the ABp of the Prince's Towardliness Godliness Gentleness and all honest Qualities and that both the Arch-bishop and all the Realm ought to take him for a singular Gift sent of God That he read Cato Vives his Satellitium Esop's Fables and made Latin besides things of the Bible and that he conned pleasantly and perfectly The Arch-bishop out of his dear Love to him and to encourage him would sometimes himself write in Latin to him And one of his Letters to him is yet extant in Fox His great Parts might be seen by his Letters Journals Memorials Discourses and Writings which were many divers lost but of those that are yet extant these are the most A Letter to the Arch-bishop of Canterbury his God-father from Ampthil in Latin being then but about seven Years old Another in Latin to the Arch-bishop from Hartford which was an Answer to one from the Arch-bishop A Letter in French to his Sister the Lady Elizabeth writ Decemb. 18 1546. A Letter to his Unkle the Duke of Somerset after his Success against the Scots 1547. To Q. Katharine Par after her Marriage with the Lord Admiral his Unkle Another Letter to her A Letter to the Earl of Hartford his Cousin in Latin A Letter to Barnaby Fitz-Patrick concerning the Duke of Somerset's Arraignment Another to B. Fitz-Patrick consisting of Instructions to him when he went into France Another to Fitz-Patrick giving him an Account of his Progress in August 1552. Orders concerning the Habits and Apparel of his Subjects according to their Degrees and Qualities Mention is also made in the History of the Reformation of Letters in Latin to K. Henry his Father at eight Years old and to Queen Katharine Par. His Journal writ all with his own Hand from the beginning of his Reign 1547 until the 28 th of Novemb. 1552. A Collection of Passages of Scripture against Idolatry in French Dedicated to the Protector A Discourse about the Reformation of many Abuses both Ecclesiastical and Temporal A Reformation of the Order of the Garter Translated out of English into Latin by K. Edward These four last are published in the History of the Reformation Volume II. among the Collections A Book written in French by him at twelve Years of Age against the Pope intitled A L'encontre les abus du Monde A Memorial February 1551. Another Memorial dated Octob. 13. 1552. Another Memorial His Prayer a little before his Death I shall reherse none of these Writings but only one of the Memorials because it bordereth so near upon our present History and shews so much this Young Prince's Care of Religion and for the good Estate of the Church animated admonished counselled and directed in these Matters by the Arch-bishop For Religion Octob. 13. 1552. I. A Catechism to be set forth for to be taught in all Grammar-Schools II. An Uniformity of Doctrine to which all Preachers should set their Hands III. Commissions to be granted to those Bishops that be Grave Learned Wise Sober and of good Religion for the executing of Discipline IV. To find fault with the slightfulness of the Pastors and to deliver them Articles of Visitation willing and commanding them to be more diligent in their Office and to keep more Preachers V. The abrogating of the old Canon-Law and establishment of a New VI. The dividing of the Bishoprick of Durham into two and placing of Men in them VII The placing of Harley into the Bishoprick of Hereford VIII The making of more Homilies IX The making of more Injunctions X. The placing of one in a Bishoprick in Ireland which Turner of Canterbury hath refused Some of these things were already done and some in Hand Hereby we may see what further Steps in the Reformation would have been made had the good King lived So that in this King's Reign Religion made a good Progress and Superstition and Idolatry was in a good manner purged out of the Church Which was the more to be wondred at considering the Minority of the King the grievous Factions at Court and the too common Practice then of scoffing and buffooning Religion and the more conscientious Professors of it For of this sort of Men Russians and dissolute Livers there were many followed the Court and were Favorites to the Leading-Men there I mean the two Dukes and proved after base Time-servers and Flatterers in the Reign of Queen Mary During this Reign Arch-bishop Cranmer was a very active Man and great Deference seemed to be given to his Judgment by the King and Council in the Matters that were then transacting especially as concerning the Reformation of Religion For I find him very frequently at the Council-Board and often sent for thither or sent unto when absent And here I will not think much to set down all the particular Days when and Places where he was present in Person with the Privy-Counsellors from the Year 1550 beginning unto the middle of the Year 1553 near the the Time of the King's Death as it was extracted carefully out of a Council-Book that commenceth at the above-said Year Anno 1550 April 19. He was present at the Council then at Greenwich This Month one Putto who had been put to silence for his lend Preaching that is against the Steps made in the Reformation and did now nevertheless of his own Head preach as lendly as he had done before was referred to the Arch-bishop and the Bishop of Ely to be corrected April 28. The Arch-bishop present at Council May 2 4 7 11 On
of London and immediately dispatched the Earl of Arundel and the Lord Paget unto her with a Letter writ from Baynard's-Castle where they now were removed from the Tower In which Letter they beg her Pardon and to remit their former Infirmities and assure her calling God to witness to the same that they were ever in their Hearts her true Subjects since the King's Death but could not utter their Minds before that time without great Destruction and Bloodshed of themselves and others The Copy of this Letter may be read in the Appendix The same day the Council wrote to the Duke of Northumberland their Letters dated from VVestminster sent by an Herald Wherein the Duke was commanded and charged in Q. Mary's Name to disarm and discharge his Souldiers and to forbear his return to the City until the Queen's Pleasure And the same was to be declared to the Marquess of Northampton and all other Gentlemen that were with him The Herald was also by virtue of his Letters from the Council to notify in all Places where he came That if the Duke did not submit himself to the Queen's Highness he should be taken as a Traitor and they of the late King's Council would persecute him to his utter Confusion And thus far our Arch-bishop went For this was signed by him and the Bishop of Ely Lord Chancellor the Marquess of VVinchester the Duke of Suffolk the Earls of Bedford Shrewsbury Pembrook the Lord Darcy Sir Richard Cotton Petre and Cecyl Secretaries Sir Iohn Baker Sir Iohn Mason Sir Robert Bowes The Duke saw it in vain to oppose and so submitted to this Order And the Plot that his â—mbition had been framing so long and with so much Art fell on a sudden Very speedily Queen Mary was owned Abroad as well as at Home Dr. VVotton Dean of Canterbury Sir VVilliam Pickering Sir Thomas Chaloner Ambassadors in France writ their Letters to her and the Council acknowledging her and ceasing any further to act as Ambassadors She continued Dr. VVotton and sent for Pickering and Chaloner Home and sent Sir Anthony St. Leger the beginning of August Ambassador thither joined with VVotton This Determination the Council August 12 signified to the said three Ambassadors But now to cast our Eyes upon the State of Religion at this Time Upon this Access of Queen Mary to the Crown whose Interest as well as Education made her a Zealous Papist the good Progress of Religion was quite overthrown and the pious Arch-bishop's Pains and long Endeavours in a great measure frustrated and he himself soon after exercised with great Afflictions The first pretended Occasion of which was this It was reported Abroad soon after King Edward's Death that the Arch-bishop had offered to sing the Mass and Requiem at the Burial of that King either before the Queen or at S. Paul's Church or any where else and that he had said or restored Mass already in Canterbury This indeed had the Suffragan of Dover Dr. Thornton done but without the Arch-bishop's Consent or knowledg But however such good Impressions of Religion had the Arch-bishop left at Canterbury that though Mass was set up there and Priests were through fear forced to say it yet it was utterly contrary to their Wills And about New-years-tide there was a Priest said Mass there one Day and the next came into the Pulpit and desired all the People to forgive him For he said he had betrayed Christ but not as Judas did but Peter And then he made a long Sermon against the Mass. But the aforesaid slanderous report so troubled the Arch-bishop that to stay it he wrote a Letter to a Friend of his that he never made any promise of saying Mass nor that he did set up the Mass in Canterbury but that it was done by a false flattering lying Monk Dr. Thornden such a Character in his just Anger he gave him who was Suffragan of Dover and Vice-dean of that Church in the absence of Dr. Wotton who was then abroad in Embassy This Thornden saith my Manuscript writ but a few Years after by Scory or Becon as I conjecture was A Man having neither Wit Learning nor Honesty And yet his Wit is very ready For he preacheth as well extempore as at a Years warning so learnedly that no Man can tell what he chiefly intendeth or goeth about to prove so aptly that a gross of Points is not sufficient to ty his Sermon together Not unlike to Iodocus a Monk of whom Erasmus maketh mention in his Colloquies who if he were not garnished with these glorious Titles Monk Doctor Vice-dean and Suffragan were worthy to walk openly in the Streets with a Bell and Cocks-comb Besides this Letter the Arch-bishop resolved to do something in a more publick manner in vindication of the Reformation as well as of himself So he devised a Declaration Wherein he both apologized for himself against this false Report and made a brave Challenge with the assistance of Peter Martyr and a few more to maintain by Disputation with any Man the Reformation made under K. Edward This Declaration after a first draught of it he intended to enlarge and then being sealed with his own Seal to set it upon the Doors of S. Paul's Church and other Churches in London This Writing wherein the good Religion and Doctrine practised and taught in the former Reign was so nobly owned and offered to be defended in such a publick manner was not only read by some Body boldly in Cheapside but many Copies thereof were taken and so became dispersed It was also soon after printed in Latin and I suppose in English too Sure I am in the Year 1557 it was printed beyond Sea by the Exiles From which Print I shall here transcribe it being sent from Grindal to Iohn Fox for his use in the writing his History A Declaration of the Reverend Father in God Thomas Cranmer Arch-bishop of Canterbury condemning the untrue and slanderous Report of some which have reported That he should set up the Mass at Canterbury at the first coming of the Queen to her Reign 1553. AS the Devil Christ's antient Adversary is a Liar and the Father of Lying even so hath he stirred his Servants and Members to persecute Christ and his true Word and Religion Which he ceaseth not to do most earnestly at this present For whereas the most noble Prince of famous Memory King Henry VIII seeing the great Abuses of the Latin Masses reformed something herein in his Time and also our late Soveraign Lord K. Edward VI took the same whole away for the manifold Errors and Abuses thereof and restored in the place thereof Christ's Holy Supper according to Christ's own Institution and as the Apostles in the Primitive Church used the same in the beginning The Devil goeth about by lying to overthrow the Lord's Holy Supper and to restore the Latin Satisfactory Masses a thing of his own Invention and Device And
Pounds Two Mitres in Plate parcel gilt seven hundred and seventy Ounces and gilt Plate eleven hundred fifty seven Ounces One broken Cross of Silver gilt with one Image broken weighing forty six Ounces three Obligations one 37 l. 5 s. 10 d another for 15 l another for 10 l. Sold by the said Markham fivescore Beasts and four hundred Muttons Sold all the Sheep belonging to the Arch-bishop supposed to be two thousand five hundred Moreover he took away two Turky-carpets of Wool as big and as good as any Subject had Also a Chest full of Copes and Vestments of Cloth of Tissue Two very good Beds of Down and six of the best young Horses that were at Cawood Profered to make Sale of all his House-hold-stuff in five Houses three very well furnished and two metely well Sold all his Stores of Household Wheat two hundred Quarters Malt five hundred Quarters Oats sixty Quarters Wine five or six Tun. Fish and Ling six or seven hundred with very much Household Store as Fuel Hay with many other things necessary for Household Horses at Cawood young and old four or five scorce They received Rent of his own Land five hundred Pounds yearly at the least This was done by this Markham upon pretence that he was guilty of Treason or great Crimes He gave to many Persons Money to the value of an hundred Pounds and above that they should give Information against him Besides they took away good Harness and Artillery sufficient for seven score Men. All this Spoil was committed when he was cast in the Tower Of all this Injury he made a Scedule afterwards and complained thereof to the Lords By this one Instance which I have set down at large as I extracted it from a Paper in the Benet-College Library we may judg what Havock was made of the Professors of Religion in their Estates as well as their Persons as this Bishop was served before any Crime was proved against him Thus the other Arch-bishop of York was not to go without Animadversion any more than he of Canterbury The former lay eighteen Months in the Tower and was deposed at last for being Married as well as Cranmer Of this Gardiner Bishop of Winchester in his Sermon at Paul's Cross at which were present King Philip and Cardinal Pole gave as he thought this nipping Gird Thus while we desired to have a Supream Head among us it came to pass that we had no Head at all No not so much as our two Arch-bishops For that on one side the Queen being a Woman could not be Head of the Church and on the other side they were both convicted of one Crime and so deposed This Arch-bishop of York continued in Prison till 1554 when the Queen granted the Request of the new King for the Liberty of a great many Prisoners whereof this Prelate was one He died the next Year through Grief as it is probable and Suffering CHAP. II. Protestant Bishops and Clergy cast into Prisons and deprived INdeed in this first Entrance of Q. Mary's Reign it was a wonder to see that fierceness that it was ushered in with the Papists thinking that this Rigour at first would terrify all out of their former Principles of true Religion and bring them to the Devotion of the Church of Rome again And it was as marvellous to observe the stedfastness of the generality of the Professors This Queen began her Reign after that manner I use the words of one that lived in that Time that it might be conjectured what She was like after to prove Sending up for abundance of People to appear before the Council either upon the Lady Iane's Business or the Business of Religion and committing great numbers into Prisons And indeed She boasted her self a Virgin sent of God to ride and tame the People of England To explain somewhat these Austerities They thought fit to begin with the Protestant Clergy Bishops and others For this purpose a Commission was directed to the Bishops of London Winchester Chichester and Durham Men sufficiently sowred in their Tempers by what befel them in the last Reign These were to discharge the Protestant Bishops and Ministers of their Offices and Places upon pretence either of Treason Heresy or Marriage or the like to make way for their own Men. Thus Iohn Tayler Bishop of Lincoln was deprived because he had a bad Title there being this clause in the Letters Patents whereby he was made Bishop Quamdiu bene se gesserit and because he thought amiss concerning the Eucharist Iohn Hoper was deprived of the Bishoprick of Worcester by the restitution of Nicolas Hethe formerly deprived and removed from the See of Glocester for his Marriage and other Demerits Iohn Harley Bishop of Hereford deprived for Wedlock and Heresy Robert Farrar Bp of S. David's deprived for Wedlock and Heresy William Barlow Bishop of Bath made a voluntary Resignation The Bishoprick of Rochester was void three Years since Scory was translated to Chichester Iohn Bird an old Man Married was deprived of the Bishoprick of Chester Thomas Cranmer Arch-bishop of Canterbury for I do but transcribe now out of the Register of the Church of Canterbury being called into question for high Treason by his own Confession was judged guilty thereof Whence in the Month of December the See of Canterbury became Vacant Robert Holgate Arch-bishop of York was deprived for Wedlock and was cast into the Tower and led a private Life The like happened to Miles Coverdale of Exeter by the restoring Iohn Vayse who out of fear had formerly resigned Cuthbert Bishop of Durham formerly deprived was restored Edmund Bonner Bishop of London restored Nicolas Ridley being removed from the said See and cast into Prison for making an ill Sermon and being noted for heretical Pravity Stephen Gardiner Bp of Winchester restored Iohn Poinet being ejected and Imprisoned and deprived of Episcopacy for being Married To which I must add the See of Bristol resigned by Paul Bush the Bishop thereof How they proceeded with the inferior Clergy in general for being Married may be measured by their proceedings with the Clergy of London and Canterbury which we shall see by and by So that K. Edward's Clergy were now in the very beginning of this Queen very hardly used Some were deprived never convict no â—or never called I use the words of an Author that Lived in that Queen's Reign and felt her Severity Some called that were fast locked in Prison and yet nevertheless deprived immediately Some deprived without the cause of Marriage after their Orders Some induced to resign upon promise of Pension and the Promise as yet never performed Some so deprived that they were spoiled of their Wages for the which they served the half Year before and not ten days before the Receit sequestred from it Some prevented from his half Years Receit after Charges of Tenths and Subsidy paid and yet not deprived six weeks after Some
Kings of England viz. Supream Head of the Church of England was left out Which by a Statute made in the 35 o of Henry VIII was ordained to be united and annexed for ever to the Imperial Crown of this Realm In which third Parliament of the Queen they repealed what was done by K. Henry VIII for the restitution of the Liberty of the Realm and extinguishing the usurped Authority of the Bishop of Rome This Flaw Gardiner the Lord Chancellor well seeing thought craftily to excuse by saying as may be seen in a Piece of the Statute made in the same Parliament Cap. 8. That it lay in the free Choice and free Liberty of the Kings of this Realm whether they would express the same Title in their Stile or no. But it is replied to this that though any Man may renounce his own private Right yet he may not renounce his Right in that which toucheth the Common-Wealth or a third Person And this Title and Stile more touched the Common-Wealth and the Realm of England than the King In this first Parliament an Act was made for confirmation of the Marriage of the Queen's Mother to her Father K. Henry Herein the leading Men shewed their Malice against the good Arch-bishop by their wording of the Preamble as That Thomas Cranmer late Arch-bishop did most ungodly and against Law judg the Divorce upon his own unadvised Understanding of the Scriptures and upon the Testimonies of the Universities and some bare and most untrue Conjectures And they declared the Sentence given by him to be unlawful But I cannot let this pass for the Reputation of the Arch-bishop without taking notice of the Censure that the Bishop of Sarum doth worthily bestow upon Bishop Gardiner whom he concludes to be the drawer up of this Act That he shewed himself herein to be past all Shame and that it was as high a pitch of Malice and Impudence as could be devised For Gardiner had been setting this on long before Cranmer was known to the King and had joined with him in the Commission and had given his Consent to the Sentence Nor was the Divorce meerly grounded upon Cranmer's understanding the Scriptures but upon the fullest and most studied Arguments that had perhaps been in any Age brought together in one particular Case And both Houses of Convocation had condemned the Marriage before his Sentence CHAP. V. The Arch-bishop Attainted THIS Parliament Attainted Cranmer with the Lady Iane and her Husband and some others And in November he was adjuged guilty of High Treason at Guild-hall And under this Judgment he lay for a good while which was very uneasy to him desiring to suffer under the imputation of Heresy under this Government rather than Treason He was now looked upon as devested of his Arch-bishoprick being a Person attainted And the Fruits of his Bishoprick were Sequestred Canterbury being now without an Arch-bishop the Dean Dr. VVotton acted in that Station according to his Office in the Vacancy of the See So he sent out many Commissions There was a Commission from him to Iohn Cotterel and VVilliam Bowerman to exercise Jurisdiction in the See of VVells by the Resignation of Barlow Bishop there Another Commission to the See of Bristol upon the Resignation of Bush. Another for the See of Litchfield upon the Death of Richard Sampson Which Commission was directed to David Pool LL. D. dated 1554. Septemb. ult Another to exercise Jurisdiction in the See of Exon Vacant by the Death of Veysy February 9. 1554. Another for the Consecration of Gilbert Bourn Bishop of Bath and VVells Iohn VVhite Bishop of Lincoln Morice Griffith of Rochester Iohn Cotes of Chester Henry Morgan of S. David's Iames Brook of Glocester Who were all Consecrated together in the Church of S. Saviour's Southwark April 1. 1554. This Commission I suppose was to the Bishop of VVinchester Another Commission for the Consecration of Hopton Bishop of Norwich dated Octob. 6. 1554. consecrated Octob. 28. following Another Commission to Consecrate Holiman Bishop of Bristol and Bayn Bishop of Litchfield dated Novemb. 16 1554. consecrated Novemb. 18. following Another Commission to Consecrate Iames Turbervil Bishop of Exon who was Consecrated September 8. 1555. And for VVilliam Glin Bishop of Bangor the same Date All these five last named were Consecrated in a Chappel of the Bishop of London in London The poor Arch-bishop most instantly sued to the Queen for his Pardon acknowledging his Fault in the most submissive manner that could be But though She had granted Pardons to divers others that had signed K. Edward's Will and made no such boggle to do it as the Arch-bishop did yet the Arch-bishop remained unpardoned He sent divers humble petitionary Letters to the Queen and her Council for the obtaining this Favour In one Letter to her he called it his Hainous Folly and Offence and said That he never liked it nor that any thing that the Queen's Brother ever did grieved him so much and that if it had been in his Power he would have letted the doing of it That divers of the Queen's Council knew what he had said to the King and the Council against proceeding in it and that he endeavoured to talk to the King alone about it but was not permitted and that when he could not disswade him from this Will he was hardly brought to sign it notwithstanding what the Judges told him to satisfy him in Point of Law And that at last it was the King's earnest Request to him that he would not be the only Man that refused it Which with the Judgment of the Lawyers overcame him to set his Hand But I refer the Reader to the Appendix to weigh this whole Letter as it is there transcribed Another Petition the next Year 1554 he sent up from Oxon by Dr. VVeston to the Council And therein he begged them to interceed with the Queen for his Pardon But VVeston carrying it half-way to London and then opening it and seeing the Contents of it sent it back again to the Arch-bishop and refused to be the Messenger This at length was the Resolution that was taken concerning him in this Matter because for shame they could not deny him a Pardon when others far more Guilty and deeper in the Business had it That he should be pardoned the Treason as an Act of the Queen's Grace and then he should be proceeded against for Heresy for diâ— they were resolved he should When this Pardon was at length obtained he was right glad being very gladly ready to undergo Afflictions for the Doctrine that he had taught and the Reformation he had set on Foot because this he reckoned to be suffering for God's Cause and not as an Evil-doer The Arch-bishop looked now with weeping Eyes upon the present sad Condition of Religion and the miserable Apostacy of the Church lapsed into all the formerly rejected Superstitions Nor could he now procure any Redress Yet he felt a
in the sending them to him it was uncertain Some suspected Grimbold himself but others rather the Messenger for it would not enter into Shipside's Head that Grimbold should play such a Iudas's part CHAP. XII A Parliament Pole reconciles the Realm GREAT Care was now to be taken of getting Parliament-men that might do what was to be laid before them now the Pope's Legat was to be received and the last Parliament failing Expectation Therefore Letters were dispatched from the Queen and Interests made all the Nation over to procure such Persons to be elected as should be named to them In a Manuscript containing divers Orders that were sent into Norfolk in Q. Mary's Time there is a Letter from that Queen Anno 2 o dated Octob. 6 to the Earl of Sussex directing him to assist in choosing such Men to sit in Parliament As were of Wise Grave and Catholick sort such as indeed meant the true Honour of God with the Prosperity of the Nation The Advancement whereof We as the Letter runneth and our dear Husband the King do chiefly profess and intend without alteration of any Man 's particular Possession as amongst other false Rumors the hinderers of our good Purposes and favourers of Heresies do most utterly report For to make the intent of restoring the Abby-Lands to be the less credited it was thought convenient to be laid upon the Hereticks With these general Letters there seemed to go private Instructions what particular Men were to be set up For upon the aforesaid Letter the Earl of Sussex sent a Letter Octob. 14 to Sir Tho. Woodhouse High Sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk and to Sir William Woodhouse about the Elections of Knights of those Shires viz. That they should reserve their Interests and Voices for such as he should name and that he would soon consult with them about the Matter He then in pursuit of the Queen's Letter recommended to the Bailiff of Yarmouth Iohn Millicent to be elected Burgess for that Town This Parliament sate Novemb. 11. Cardinal Pole was this Summer brought to Flanders by the Emperor who had stayed him before on the Way The Queen sent over the Lord Paget and the Lord Hastings to the Cardinal to conduct him over in quality of the Pope's Legate And the same day he landed at Dover which was Novemb. 21. the Bill past for the taking off his Attainder Three days after he came to London and so to Lambeth-house Which was ready prepared for his coming Cardinal Pole before he came into England and in the last Reign had the reputation here ordinarily of a vertuous sober and learned Man and was much beloved by the English Nation as well for his Qualities as his honourable Extraction Latimer in one of his Sermons before K. Edward hath these words of him I never remember that Man speaking of Pole but I remember him with a heavy Heart a Witty Man a Learned Man a Man of a Noble House so in favour that if he had tarried in the Realm and would have conformed himself to the King's Proceedings I heard say and I believe it verily he had been Bishop of York at this Day And he would have done much good in that part of the Realm For those Quarters have always had need of Learned Men and a preaching Prelate One great Author the Cardinal much conversed in was S. Hierom. Latimer wished That he would have followed S. Hierom in his Exposition of that Place Come out of her my People Where that Father understood it of Rome and called that City The purple Whore of Babylon Almighty God saith Get you from it get you from Rome saith Hierom. It were subjoined Latimer more commendable to go from it than to go to it as Pole hath done Soon after his return into England he was mighty busy in reconciling the Realm to the Pope He performed it in his own Person to the Parliament on the thirtieth of November with much Solemnity and to the Convocation on the sixth of December On which day the Parliament being dissolved he the Lord Legate sent for the whole Convocation of Upper and Lower House to Lambeth And there he absolved them all from their Perjuries Schisms and Heresies Which Absolution they received upon their Knees Then he gave them an Exhortation and congratulated their Conversion and so they departed Ianuary 23. Upon the dismission of the Convocation the Bishops and inferior Clergy waited again upon the Legate at Lambeth Where he willed them all to repair to their Cures and Charges and exhorted them to entreat their Flocks with all Mildness and to endeavor to win them by Gentleness rather than by Extremity and Rigor and so let them depart Ianuary 28. He granted a Commission to the Bp of VVinchester and divers other Bishops to sit upon and judg according to the Laws lately revived against Hereticks all such Ministers and others that were in Prison for Heresy Which was done undoubtedly to take off all the eminentest of the Protestant Clergy then in hold And the very same day such haste they made they sat in Commission in S. Mary Overies Church upon Rogers Hoper and Cardmaker And the next to that upon Hoper and Rogers again upon Taylor also and Bradford when the two former were formally excommunicated The day following they sat upon Taylor and Bradford again to which were added Ferrar Crome and Saunders Then they excommunicated Bradford and Saunders But that this Reconciliation to the Pope and Church of Rome might sound the louder in all Parts and Corners of the Nation and all Persons every where might make their formal Submissions to the Pope and thankfully take the mighty Benefit of his Yoke upon them again the Legate was not contented to reconcile the Nation himself under their Representatives in the Parliament and Convocation but upon pretence that he could not in his own Person pardon and reconcile all the People therefore he granted out a Commission to each Bishop in his own Diocess to do it to their respective Clergy and Laity deputed in his Name and by his Authority derived from the Pope Such a Commission he granted February 8 to the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury that See being then held Vacant Therein authorizing them to absolve all manner of Persons as well Lay as Ecclesiasticks Religious as Secular from their Schism Heresies and Errors and from all Censures due thereupon And to dispense with the Clergy upon divers Irregularities as with such who had received Orders from Schismatical Bishops or had been collated into their Livings by them To dispense also with the Religious and Regulars for departing from their Cloisters without the Pope's Licence permitting them to wear the Habit of Priests and to serve Cures considering the scarcity of Priests and to live out of their Cloisters Also to dispense with Priests that had married Wives though they were Widows or Women defiled and with such who had been twice married doing
them either by Writiting or by Disputation in the English Tongue By whom this Declaration was drawn up unless by Iohn Bradford I know not for I meet with it a MS. which contains divers Pieces of that good Man This remarkable Declaration I have reposited in the Appendix This now is the second time a publick Challenge was made to justify K. Edward's Reformation the former the last Year by Cranmer the latter now by divers of the Learned Men in Prison After they had lain fifteen or sixteen Months thus in Prison their Livings Houses and Possessions Goods and Books taken from them they made such another Address unto the King and Queen and the Parliament therein undertaking either by Word or Writing before them or indifferent Arbiters to be appointed by them to prove themselves no Hereticks nor Teachers of Heresy as they were pretended to be nor cut off from the true Catholick Church though by the Popish Clergy excommunicated and Secondly By the Testimony of Christ his Prophets and Apostles and the Godly Fathers of the Church to prove the Doctrine of the Church the Homilies and Service taught and used in K. Edward's Time to be the true Doctrine of Christ's Catholick Church and most agreeable to the Articles of the Christian Faith And this was the third publick Challenge they made This being preserv'd in Fox's Acts I forbear to transcribe it CHAP. XV. The Exiles and their Condition BUT let us now turn our Eyes from the Prisoners which were kept under close Confinement here in England unto the Exiles that by the good Providence of God made their Flight into foreign Countries from these Storms at home These were both of the Clergy and Laity Who though great watch was laid for them and Prohibitions given out against any that should privately attempt to transport themselves yet by taking their Opportunities and the favour of divers Masters of small Vessels at Lee in Essex and upon the Coasts in those Parts they safely got to the other side of the Sea They scattered themselves and took up their Harbours as they could But they found little Hospitality in Saxony and other places in Germany where Lutheranism was professed But on the contrary the Exile English were much hated by those of that Profession because they looked upon them as Sacramentaries and holding as Calvin and Peter Martyr did in the Doctrine of the Sacrament Therefore when any English came among them for Shelter they expelled them out of their Cities And when a grave Pastor of Saxony a Friend of P. Martyr's who though he were a Minister yet was not of their Mind had entertained some of them the rest clamoured against him and hated him for it About this time the Saxon Divines wrote many Books against the Sacramentaries and namely one Ioachim Westphalus wrote a Book against Calvin And he and the rest got these Books printed at Frankford on purpose as Martyr conjectured the more to spight the English and French Churches that abode now there and to provoke them At Wesel the English were under some trouble and the Senate were about to command them to depart thence because of their different Sentiments from the Augustan Confession in some Points But Philip Melancthon interposed and interceded with the Senate on their behalf And when some clamoured against them he took their part saying That their Case ought to be weighed by friendly Disputations and not exploded by Noise and Hissing and declared his judgment to be That these poor Exiles were to be retained and helped not afflicted and vexed by any rough Sentence He wrote also to the Governors of Frankford to the same purpose viz. That the English were not to be oppressed but to be cherished considering their Sentiments were found in the main Articles of the Christian Confession and that whereas they differed in some Points they were to be instructed and informed and not to be rudely thrown out from among them by Force and Violence And indeed it was admirable to observe at this Time the exceeding Heats that were in the Lutherans against all other Protestants only for differing from them in this one Point of the Sacrament There was a Book published in the Year 1555. in favour of their Opinion of the Corporeal Presence which was called Farrago Doctrinae Lutheranae This P. Martyr called Valdè insulsa a very foolish Book It contained a Collection of Sentences out of the Fathers and also out of the Writings of Luther Philip Brentius Pomeran c. They added some out of Bucer Illyricus and Ioachim Westphalus to shew that they agreed together They inserted divers Letters sometime writ against the Sacramentaries Indeed Calvin and Martyr they mentioned not by Name but A Lasco they did In this Book there was a Discourse added under this Title Quod Christi Corqus sit ubique Which was to serve as a Proof of their Doctrine And in the conclusion there was a Common-place De Magistratus officio Which was thought to be put in upon no other reason but to inflame and irritate Princes against the Sacramentaries These Saxon Divines were exceeding hot against those that believed not as they did In their ordinary Discourses they stiled them Hereticks False Prophets Suermeros Sacramentiperdas About this Time they were gathering new Votes against Calvin and as it was thought they intended to attempt some Excommunication against such as differed from them in this Point And this that I have said is enough to explain the Reason of the Inhospitality of the Lutherans to our Exiles But in other Places they were received with much Kindness and had the Liberty of their Religious Worship granted them as in Strasburgh Frankford Embden Doesburge Basil Zurick Arrow Geneva At Zurick they were received into one House with Bullinger and had great Favour and Countenance shewn them by the Towns-men and Magistrates Who offered them by Bullinger to supply them with such a quantity of Bread-corn and Wine as should serve to sustain thirteen or fourteen People But they with Thanks refused it Having I suppose wherewith to subsist otherwise of themselves and being willing to be as little burthensome as might be In these Places some followed their Studies some taught Schools some wrote Books some assisted at the Printing-Presse and grew very dear to the Learned Men in those Places At Embden they â—aving gotten among them by Sir Iohn Cheke's Means as was thought an Original Copy of Arch-bishop Cranmer's Book of the Sacrament translated it into Latin and printed it there with a Preface before it And there they preserved the said Original as a most invaluable Treasure Here they printed other good Books in English and conveyed them into England At Geneva a Club of them employed themselves in translating the Holy Bible into English intending to do it with more Correctness than had hitherto been done having the opportunity of consulting with Calvin and Beza in
be excused from taking the Archbishoprick of Canterbury because this Promotion would so much interrupt his beloved Studies Desiring rather some smaller Living that he might more quietly follow his Book And as he had been an hard Student so he was a very great Writer both in respect of the number of Books and Treatises he compiled as of the Learning Judgment and Moment of them The first Treatise he wrote was that which was done at the Command of Henry VIII viz. Concerning the Unlawfulness of his Marriage with his Brother Arthur's Widow Which he made appear to be both against the Word of God and against the Judgment of the Antient Fathers of the Church and therefore a Case indispensable by the Pope And so well had he studied the Point and so well was assured of what he had wrote that he undertook before the King to maintain the Truth of it at Rome in the presence of the Pope himself The King accordingly dismissed him to the Pope in joint Embassy with the Earl of Wiltshire and some others for that purpose He presented his Book to the Pope offering to stand by it against any whomsoever that should attempt to gainsay it But the Pope thought not fit to suffer so tender a Point to be disputed wherein his Prerogative was so much touched When he had finished thâ—s Discourse it was sent to Cambridg and had the Approbation and Subscription of the eminentest Doctors there viz. Sâ—lcot Repps Câ—me and divers others Among which I suppose were Heines Litiner Shaxton Skip Goodrick Hethe who were then Gremials After this Book â—e was much employed in writing more at various Times and â—pon various Occasions Fox mentioneth Cranmer's Book of the â—eformation which I suppose was that of the Publick Service the Catechism the Book of Homilies which was part by him contrâ—ed and part by his Procurement and by him approved and pubished Likewise the Confutation of eighty eight Articles devised and propounded by a Convocation in King Henry's Reign and laboâ—red to be received and enjoined though they were not But his Discoâ—rse wherein he stated the Doctrine of the Sacrament in five â—ooks must especially be remembred Which he wrote on purpose for the publick Instruction of the Church of England And it â—s the more to be valued as being writ by him in his mature Age after all his great Readings and Studies and most diligent and serioâ—s perusals of all the Ecclesiastical Writers whereby he became throughly acquainted with their Judgments and Opinions in that Doctrine And in it are contained his last and ripest Thoughts on â—hat Argument This Book displayeth the great Weakness of that â—istinguishing Doctrine of the Church of Rome that asserts Transubstantiation Besides these many other Writings and Discourses were made by him Which we are beholden to the Bishop of Sarum for retrieving the Memory of and preserving the Substance of divers of them in his excellent History viz. A Learned Speech made to the Lords concerning the Pope and a general Council Which that Right Reverend Author thinks was made about the Year 1534 which was soon after his being made Arch-bishop Some Queries in order to the correcting of several Abuses in Religion whereby the People had been deceived Some Queries concerning Confirmation With the Answers which were given to them by Arch-bishop Cranmer Some Considerations to induce the King to proceed to a further Reformation These three last were presented by the Arch-bishop to the King about the Year 1536 as the Bishop of Sarum supposeth And having seen the Originals thereof in the Cotton-Library hath transcribed them to us in the Addenda to the Collections His Resolution of seventeen Questions concerning the Sacraments Anno 1540. A Collection of Passages out of the Canon Law to shew the necessity of Reforming it Anno 1542. His Letters to Osiander and Letters of Osiander to him concerning the Proceedings of the German Divines Whose Violence the Arch-bishop disliked A Speech made in the Convocation Wherein he exhorted the Clergy to give themselves to the study of the Scriptures and to consider seriously what things in the Church neeâ—ed Reformation Anno 1547. His Answer to the Demands of the Rebels in the West drawn up by him by Order of the Council Anno 1549. His Declaration to vindicate himself from an Aspersion That he had caused Mass to be sung in Canterbury Aâ—d offering therein a publick Dispute to maintain the Reformation Anno 1553. Besides two Volumes in Folio writ by Cranmer own Hand upon all the Heads of Religion Consisting of Allegtions of Texts of Scripture and of antient Fathers and later Doctos and School-men upon each Subject There were also six or seveâ— Volumes of his Writings which were in the Lord Burleigh's Iâ—ssession as appeared by a Letter of the said Lord which the Bishop of Sarum saw But he thought these may now be lost Most of tâ—e forementioned Writings are preserved in the Cotton-Library or iâ— that of Corpus-Christi Cambridg or among the Manuscripts of the Right Reverend Bishop Stillingsleet To which we must add the mention of a bundle of Books lying in the Palace-Treasury in Westminster in defence of the King's Title of Supream Head and concerning the Divorce and seveal other Matters with a Pâ—eface against Cardinal Pole Which aâ—e supposed to be written partly by Dr. Clark Bishop of Bath and Wels and partly by our Arch-bishop Several other Letters Speeches and Arguments of our Arch-bishop may be found in these Memorials which I omit here rehersing But I will add to these divers Pieces besides of this Prelat's writing as they are set down by Melchior Adam at the End of Cranmer's Life Who indeed did but transcribe them from Gesner and he from Iohn Bale's Centuries I. A Preface to the English Translation of the Bible This is transcribed in the Appendix II. A Catechism of Christian Doctrine printed by Gualter Lynn Anno 1548. This Catechism was first framed in Germany and by the Arch-bishop himself or his special Order turned into English And to fix an Authority to the same he caused it to be published in his own Name and owned it for his own Book This Dr. Rowland Taylor who lived in the Arch-bishop's Family declared before Gardiner Bishop of Winchester and Lord Chancellor at his Examination before him And in this sense we must understand the Author of the History of the Reformation when speaking of this Catechism he stiles it A Work that was wholly his own It was said before that Iustus Ionas he I suppose that dwelt with the Arch-bishop was the Translator of it into Latin It treated of the Sacrament after the Lutheran way Which Way the Arch-bishop embraced next after his rejection of the gross Papal Transubstantiation This Catechism was printed first by the Arch-bishop's Order about the Time of King Henry's Death or soon after In a second Edition tâ—e word
I find in a Supplication made to Queen Elizabeth by Ralph Morice that had been his Secretary for the space of twenty Years During which time he was employed by that most Reverend Father in writing for him about the serious Affairs of the Prince and Realm committed unto him by those most noble and worthy Princes King Henry VIII and King Edward VI concerning as well the Writings of those great and weighty Matrimonial Causes of the said K. Henry VIII as also about the extirpation of the Bishop of Rome his usurped Power and Authority the Reformation of corrupt Religion and Ecclesiastical Laws and Alteration of Divine Service and of divers and sundry Conferences of Learned Men for the Establishing and Advancement of sincere Religion with such like Wherein he said he was most painfully occupied in writing of no small Volumes from time to time CHAP. XXIII The Arch-bishop's Regard to Learned Men. FROM these truly Noble and Useful Exercises of his great Knowledg and Learning let us descend unto the Respect he bare to good Letters Which appeared from his Favour to Places of Learning and Men of Learning We shewed before what were the Applications of the University of Cambridg to him and what a gracious Patron he was to it and its Members Among whose good Offices to that University besides those already mentioned it must not be omitted that he was the great Instrument of placing there those two very Learned Foreign Divines Paulus Fagius and Martin Bucer By his frequent Letters to them then at Strasburg urging them with the distracted and dangerous State of Germany he first brought them over into England in the Year 1548 and having entertained them in his Family the next Year he preferred them both in Cambridg Fagius to be publick Professor of the Hebrew Tongue and Bucer of Divinity And beside the University-Salary he procured for each of them from the King in the third Year of his Reign Patents for an Honorary Stipend of an hundred Pounds per Annum each De gratiâ speciali Domini Regis to be paid by the Hands of the Clerk of the Hanaper or out of the Treasury of the Court of Augmentations Durante beneplacito Domini Regis As I find by King Edward the Sixth's Book of Sales formerly mentioned Which Patents bare date Septemb. 26. Anno 1549. and their Salaries payable from the Feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin By the way I do not see any where in the said Book of Sales that Peter Martyr placed Professor of Divinity in the other University of Oxon enjoyed any such Royal Salary though he also had been invited over by Canterbury with the King's Knowledg and Allowance and placed there by that Arch-bishop's Means Yet he and his Companion Ochinus had their Annual Allowances from the King and so I suppose had all other Learned Foreigners here Melancthon also who was now expected over was intended some more extraordinary Gratuity Unto this Noble Christian Hospitality and Liberality Latimer the great Court-Preacher excited the King in one of his Sermons before him The Passage may deserve to be repeated I hear say Master Melancthon that great Clerk should come hither I would wish him and such as he is two hundred Pounds a Year The King should never want it in his Coffers at the Year's end There is yet among us two great Learned Men Petrus Martyr and Bernard Ochin which have an hundred Mark a piece I would the King would bestow a thousand Pounds on that Sort. These Matters I doubt not were concerted between Latimer and our Arch-bishop before at whose Palace he now was for the most part As I find by one of his Sermons wherein he speaks of his taking Boat at Lambeth and in another Place he mentioneth a Book he met with in my Lord of Canterbury's Library and elsewhere of many Suitors that applied to him at my Lord of Canterbury's that interrupted his Studies there The use I make of this is that it is a fair Conjecture hence that this and the many other excellent Things so plainly propounded by this Preacher to King Edward happened by the Counsel and Suggestion of the Arch-bishop But to return There was one Dr. William Mowse a Civilian and probably one of his Officers whom for his Merits and Learning our Arch-bishop for many a Year had been a special Benefactor to Sir Iohn Cheke also bare him a very good Will Upon the removal of Dr. Haddon to some other Preferment this Dr. Mowse succeeded Master of Trinity-hall in Cambridg And in the Year 1552 the Arch-bishop valuing his Worth and Integrity was a Suitor at Court for some further Preferment for him whatever it were which the Study of the Civil Law had qualified him for writing his Letters on Mowse's behalf to Secretary Cecyl who was then with the King in his Progress not to forget him And accordingly he was remembred and obtained the Place For which the Arch-bishop afterwards gave him his most hearty Thanks And Dr. Mowse also sent the same Secretary a Letter of Thanks from Cambridg for the Preferment he had obtained by his Means The main Drift thereof was to excuse himself for his Neglect in that he had not sooner paid his Acknowledgments Which as it seems the Secretary had taken some notice of having expected to be thanked for the Kindness he had done him This Letter because there is therein mention made of our Arch-bishop's singular Munificence and Cheke's Affection towards him and Mowse himself once making a Figure in that University I have thought it not amiss to insert in the Appendix Though this Man seemed to be none of the steadiest in his Religion For I find him put out of his Mastership of Trinity-Hall in the beginning of Queen Mary's Reign for having been a Protestant and to make way for the Restoration of Dr. Gardiner Bishop of Winchester who had been outed before Upon whose Death that Mastership falling void and Mowse having complied with the Romish Religion he became Master there again And soon after in Queen Elizabeth's Reign he was deprived by her Commissioners for being a Papist and one Harvey came in his Room Dr. Mowse's Fickleness appeared that upon the first tidings that fled to Cambridg of Queen Mary's Success against the Lady Iane's Party he with several other temporizing University-Men changed his Religion and in four and twenty Hours was both Protestant and Papist The Truth is his Judgment varied according to his worldly Interest And being one of those that came about so roundly he was appointed by the complying Party of the University to be one of the two Dr. Hatcher being the other that should repair unto Dr. Sands then the Vice-Chancellor to demand of him without any colour of Reason or Authority the University-Books the Keys and such other things as were in his keeping And so they did And my Author makes an Observation of his Ingratitude as well as of
State And lastly that the Hospitals impoverish'd or wholly beggar'd might by his means be remedied and helped by the King's Council that they might revert to their former Condition that is to succour and help the Poor He urged moreover to Cecyl that the destruction of Schools would be the destruction of the Universities and that all Learning would soon cease and Popery and more than Gothic Barbarism would invade all if Learned Men were not better taken care of than they were and if the Rewards of Learning viz. Rectories Prebends and all were taken away from them This Man had also freely discoursed these Matters to two other great and publick-spirited Men viz. Goodrich the Lord Chancellor who was Bishop of Ely and Holgate Arch-bishop of York To both whom he had also given the Names of a great many Schools Parsonages and Hospitals that had undergon this sacrilegious Usage And he particularly mentioned to Cecyl a Town not far from Cambridg called Childerlay where a Gentleman had pulled down all the Houses in the Parish except his own And so there being none to frequent the Church the Inhabitants being gone he used the said Church partly for a Stable for his Horses and partly for a Barn for his Corn and Straw This Letter of Wilson to the Secretary together with his Arguments against pilling the Church subjoined I have thought worthy preserving in the Repository for such Monuments in the Appendix But to return from this Digression which Calvin's Censure of our Arch-bishop occasioned And when in the Year 1551 he dispatched into England one Nicolas that Nicolas Gallasius I suppose who was afterward by Calvin recommended to be Minister to the French Congregation in London at the desire of Grindal Bishop of London that he would send over some honest able Person for that Place with Letters to the Duke of Somerset and likewise to the King to whom he presented also at the same time his Book of Commentaries upon Esay and the Canonical Epistles which he had Dedicated to him both the King's Council and the King himself were much pleased and satisfied with this Message And the Arch-bishop told Nicolas That Calvin could do nothing more profitable to the Church than to write often to the King The substance of what he wrote to the King that was so well taken was to excite and sharpen the generous Parts of the Royal Youth as Calvin hinted in a Letter to Bullinger CHAP. XXVI The Arch-bishop highly valued Peter Martyr AS for the Learned Italian Peter Martyr who is worthy to be mentioned with Melancthon and Calvin there was not only an Acquaintance between him and our Arch-bishop but a great and cordial Intimacy and Friendship For of him he made particular use in the Steps he took in our Reformation And whensoever he might be spared from his Publick Readings in Oxford the Arch-bishop used to send for him to confer with him about the weightiest Matters This Calvin took notice of and signified to him by Letter how much he rejoiced that he made use of the Counsels of that excellent Man And when the Reformation of the Ecclesiastical Laws was in effect wholly devolved upon Cranmer he appointed him and Gualter Haddon and Dr. Rowland Tayler his Chaplain and no more to manage that Business Which shews what an Opinion he had of Martyr's Abilities and how he served himself of him in Matters of the greatest Moment And in that bold and brave Challenge he made in the beginning of Queen Mary's Reign to justify against any Man whatsoever every Part of King Edward's Reformation he nominated and made choice of Martyr therein to be one of his Assistants in that Disputation if any would undertake it with him This Divine when he was forced to leave Oxford upon the Change of Religion retreated first to the Arch-bishop at Lambeth and from thence when he had tarried as long as he durst he departed the Realm to Strasburgh This Man was he that saw and reported those voluminous Writings of this Arch-bishop which he had collected out of all the Antient Church-Writers upon all the Heads of Divinity and those Notes of his own Pen that he had inserted in the Margin of his Books Which the Arch-bishop communicated to him when he conversed with him at his House And from these and such-like of the Arch-bishop's Labours he acknowledged he had learned much especially in the Doctrine of the Sacrament as he writ in his Epistle before his Tract of the Encharist The Fame of Peter Martyr and the Desire of preserving all Remains of so Learned a Professor and great an Instrument of the Reformed Religion hath inclined me to put two of his Letters into the Appendix though otherwise not to our present Purpose being Originals writ by his own Hand from Oxon. The one to Iames Haddon a learned Court-Divine and Dean of Exon to procure a Licence from the King or the Council for a Friend and Auditor of his to preach publickly The other to Sir William Cecyl to forward the paiment of a Salary due to him that read the Divinity-Lecture in the Room of Dr. Weston a Papist who had claimed it himself and laboured to detain it from him I cannot forbear mentioning here an Instance of his Love and great Concern for our Arch-bishop his old Friend and Patron after the Iniquity of the Times had parted them the one then in Prison and the other at Strasburgh It was in Iune 1555 when Queen Mary supposing her self with Child was reported to have said in her Zeal That she could never be happily brought to Bed nor succeed well in any other of her Affairs unless she caused all the Hereticks she had in Prison to be burnt without sparing so much as One. Which Opinion very likely the Bishop of Winchester or some other of her Zelotical Chaplains put into her Head This Report coming to Martyr's Ears afflicted him greatly not only for the Destruction that was like suddenly to befal many Holy Professors but more especially for the imminent Hazard he apprehended that great and publick Person the Arch-bishop to be in Which made him express himself in this manner in a Letter to Peter Alexander to whom that most Reverend Father had also formerly been a kind Host and Patron That from those Words of the Queen he might discover that my Lord of Canterbury was then in great Danger CHAP. XXVII The Arch-bishop's Favour to John Sleidan TO all these Learned and religious Outlandish-Men to whom the Arch-bishop was either a Patron or a Friend or both we must not forget to join Iohn Sleidan the renowned Author of those exact Commentaries of the State of Religion and the Common-wealth in Germany in the time of Charles V. About the end of March Anno 1551 He procured for him from King Edward an Honorary Pension of two hundred Crowns a Year as some Aid for the carrying on his
which agrees within a Day a Passage at the end of a Piece of Bucer's intituled Explicatio de vi usu S. Ministerii where it is said That he died at Cambridg before he finish'd it Pridie Cal. Martias Anno 1551. I have one Learned Man more behind to mention and he our own Country-Man to whom our Arch-bishop was a Patron and that is the celebrated Antiquarian Iohn Leland Library-keeper to Henry VIII and who by a Commission under the Broad Seal granted to him for that purpose by the King had got together a vast Heap of Collections of the Historical Antiquities of this Nation which he was many Years a making by his Travels and diligent Searches into the Libraries of Abbies and Religious-Houses before and at their Dissolution and elsewhere From whence he intended to compile a compleat History of the Antiquities of Britain To which he wholly devoted himself But being at that time poor and the Charges of such an Undertaking great he wanted some Body to make this known to the King and to recommend him effectually to his Favour and Countenance and to procure him a Royal Gratuity For which purpose he made his Application to Cranmer who he well knew was the great Encourager of Learning and Ingenuity in a very elegant Address in Verse as he was an excellent Poet. And I am apt to think the Preferments that soon after befel him as a good Parsonage near Oxford and a Canonry of the King's College in that University and a Prebendship elsewhere accrued to him by the means of the Arch-bishop laying open his State before the King His Copy of Verses were as follow Ad Thomam Cranmerum Cantiorum Archiepiscopum EST congesta mihi domi supellex Ingens aurea nobilis venusta Qua totus studeo Britanniarum Vero reddere gloriam nitori Sed fortuna meis noverca coeptis Iam felicibus invidet maligna Quare ne pereant brevi vel hora Multarum mihi noctium labores Omnes patriae simul decora Ornamenta cadant suusque splendor Antiquis malè desit usque rebus Cranmere eximium decus piorum Implorare tuam benignitatem Cogor Fac igitur tuo sueto Pro candore meum decus patronumque Vt tantùm faveat roges labori Incoepto pretium sequetur amplum Sic nomen tibi litterae elegantes Rectè perpetuum dabunt suósque Partim vel titulos tibi receptos Concedet memori Britannus ore Sic te posteritas amabit omnis Et fama super aethera innotesces CHAP. XXVIII Arch-bishop Cranmer's Relations and Chaplains TO look now a little into the Arch-bishop's more private and domestick Concerns He had two Wives While he was Fellow of Iesus College in Cambridg not being in Orders he married his first named Ioan dwelling at the Dolphin opposite to Iesus Lane which I think is a publick House to this Day Which occasioned some of his Enemies afterwards to say That he was once an Ostler because he lodged sometime with his Wife at that House Her he buried within a Year dying in Child-bed And then for divers Years he continued studying hard and reading Learned Lectures in the University and bringing up Youth till he was called to the Court His second Wife named Ann he married in Germany while he was Ambassador there By her he had Children In King Henry's Reign he kept her Secret and upon the Act of the Six Articles he sent her away into Germany that he might give no Offence nor draw any Danger upon himself In the time of King Edward when the Marriage of the Clergy was allowed he brought her forth and lived openly with her He had Children that survived him For whose sake an Act of Parliament passed in the Year 1562 to restore them in Blood their Father having been condemned for Treason in consenting to the Lady Iane's Succession to the Crown For which yet he was pardoned by Queen Mary Probably the Pardon was only Verbal or not Authentickly enough drawn up or might admit of some Doubt To take off which such an Act was procured How many Children he had or what Issue remains of them to this Day I am not able after all my Enquiries to shew His Wife survived him For we may give so much Credit to a very angry Book writ against the Execution of Iustice in England by Cardinal Allen Which charging the Arch-bishop with Breach of Vows saith That at the very Day and Hour of his Death he was sacrilegiously joined in pretended Marriage to a Woman notwithstanding his Vow and Order And living she was toward the latter End of Arch-bishop Parker's Time and for her Subsistence enjoyed an Abby in Nottingham-shire which King Henry upon Dr. Butt's his Motion without the Arch-bishop's knowledg granted to him and his Heirs For his Wife and Children he could not escape many a Taunt from his Enemies behind his Back and one to his Face from Dr. Martin one of those that were commissionated to sit as Judges upon him at Oxford He told him in reproach That his Children were Bondmen to the See of Canterbury Whether there be any such old Canon-Law I know not But the Arch-bishop smiled and asked him If a Priest at his Benefice kept a Concubine and had Children by her whether those Children were Bond-men to the Benefice or no And that he trusted they would make his Childrens Case no worse I find two of his Name in King Edward's Reign but whether they were his or his Brother Edmund's Sons or some other Relations I cannot tell There was one Richard Cranmer one of the Witnesses at the Abjuration of Ashton Priest an Arian 1548. Daniel Cranmer of Bilsington of the Diocess of Canterbury who about administring to a Will was for contumacy to the Court of Canterbury Excommunicate and a Significavit was issued out against him thereupon in the Year 1552. There was also a Thomas Cranmer about these Times who bought something in Ware-Lane of the City of Canterbury He was Publick Notary and Register to the Arch-deacon in the Year 1569. I find likewise one Robert Cranmer Esq. who was Nephew to the Arch-bishop and alive at the latter End of Queen Elizabeth This Robert left one only Daughter and Heiress named Ann. Whom Sir Arthur Harris of Crixey in Essex married and enjoyed with her three Manors Postling which came to the said Robert in the beginning of Queen Elizabeth Kingsnorth in Vlcomb and Saltwood Both which he purchased in the latter end of that Queen Upon whose Grandchild Sir Cranmer Harris of Lincoln's-Inn Kt. those Estates descended There was another Cranmer of Canterbury who enjoyed a Manor called Sapinton in Petham in Kent One of whose Off-spring by descent successively was intitled to the Propriety of it and was alive when Philpot published his Book of that County viz. 1659. There â—e living at this Time among divers others two Knights of this Name Sir Cesar Cranmer once belonging
to the Court and Sir William Cranmer a worthy Merchant of London and now Deputy-Governor of the Hamburgh Company But if we look backward the Arch-bishop's Stock and Pedigree was very Antient and of good Credit His Father was Thomas Cranmer of Alacton in Nottinghamshire Esquire and his Mother was Agnes the Daughter of Laurence Hatfield of Willoughby of like Degree a Gentleman if I mistake not of the same County Which two had Issue three Sons Iohn and Thomas our Arch-bishop and Edmund who was the Arch-Deacon and four Daughters Dorothy Ann Iane and Isabel. Which Sisters of our Arch-bishop were thus matched Dorothy to Harold Rosel of Radcliff in this County Esq Ann to Edmund Cartwright of Ossington in Staffordshire Esquire Iane to Iohn Moning Lieutenant of Dover-Castle and Isabel to Sir .... Shepey Knight Matches I suppose especially the two latter of the Arch-bishop's own making for the Preferment of his Sisters His elder Brother Iohn married Ione Daughter of Fretchvile of a good Family in the same County Whose Grand-child Thomas and Grand-Nephew to our Arch-bishop had none but Daughters One of whom being a Coheir married Iohn Rosel Grand-child to Harold aforesaid and the other to good Families in those Parts The Arch-bishop's great Grand-father Edmund married Isabel Daughter and Heir of William de Aslacton a very Antient Family This Edmund was alive in the Reign of Henry VI. In the Church of Whatton in this County is an Antient Monument of an Ancestor of our Arch-bishop with this Inscription Hic jacet Thomas Cranmerus Qui obiit 27 Maii 1501. Cujus animae propitietur Deus Amen And on the Monument the Coat of Arms of the Cranmer's being a Chevron between three Cranes quartered with those of the Aslactons Newmarches Whattons and two Families more This might probably enough be the Arch-bishop's Father The Arch-bishop in the first Year of King Edward VI purchased of that King the Rectories of Whatton and Aslacton the Manors whereof belonged to his Family before with the Advousons of the Churches Both which had pertained to the dissolved Monastery of Welbeck Which Rectories the Arch-bishop as it seems made over to his Nephew Thomas Son to his Brother Iohn For he died seized of them both And they descended to his Son and Heir Thomas The Manors of the said Whatton and Aslacton are now come into the noble Family of Dorchester The Tithes and Glebe to the Armstrongs of Scarrington For these Collections I am beholden to Thoroton's History of Nottinghamshire And now in the last place let us look into the Arch-bishop's Domestick Affairs He took great heed to the Well-government of his Family that all things there might beseem the House of a truly Christian Bishop and the chief Spiritual Governour of the English Church And in order to this one of his Cares was to have Learned Men about him A few whereof as I could retrive them I shall here mention and give some Account of And first let us begin with his Chaplains I can find but a few of them but Men they were of great Parts and Atchievements in Learning as well as Piety One of them was Rowland Taylor Doctor of both Laws and preferred by the Arch-bishop to be Parson of Hadley in Suffolk Who sealed his Doctrine with his Blood An extraordinary Man both for his Learning as well as his bold and brave Profession of Christ's Religion even to the fiery Trial. He had read over which was rare in those Days all S. Augustine's Works S. Cyprian Gregory Nazianzen Eusebius Origen and divers other Fathers He professed the Civil Law and had read over the Canon Law also As he told the Lord Chancellor Gardiner when in his Scorn and Rage together he called him an Ignorant Beetle-brow The Arch-bishop made use of him in his Affairs and he was one of those that were joined with him in King Edward's Days for making a Reformation in the Ecclesiastical Laws Soon after he was invested in his Benefice leaving the AB's Family he went and resided like a careful Pastor and performed among his Parishioners all the Parts of an excellent Minister in respect of his Doctrine Example and Charity He was sent down to his own Parish of Hadley where he was extreamly beloved to be burnt But I refer the Reader to the large and full Account that Fox gives of him in his Book of Acts and Monuments and shall only recite his Epitaph as it now remaineth or lately did in a brass Plate hanging in the Church of Hadley where he deserved so well Gloria in Altissimis Deo OF Rowland Taylor 's Fame I show an Excellent Divine A Doctor of the Civil Law a Preacher rare and fine King Henry and King Edward's Days Preacher and Parson here That gave to God continual Praise and kept his Flock in Fear And for the Truth condemn'd to die he was in Fire and Flame Where he received patiently the Torment of the same And strongly suffered to the End Which made the Standers by Rejoice in God to see their Friend and Pastor so to die O Taylor were thy mighty Fame uprightly here enroll'd Thy Deeds deserve that thy good Name were cipher'd here in Gold Obiit 1555. And in Aldham-Common not far from Hadley Town is a great Stone that assigns the Place where he suffered and on it are written these words or to this effect Dr. Taylor for maintaining what was good In this Place shed his Blood His Living was immediately supplied by one Newal And to deserve his Preferment or by Commandment perhaps from Above to render their taking away Dr. Taylor the more justifiable he made a Sermon February 10 1555 being the Day next after he suffered upon this Text Sic currite ut comprehendatis His Work was to perswade the People to return to the old Superstitions and to bespatter the Martyr with false Reports And meeting with a Writing that containeth the Sum of this Sermon I will crave leave here to insert it to give a Specimen of Popish Preaching in these Days He exhorted to run in the strait Way and leave the wide Gate viz. To leave the new-found Learning and but new found indeed and follow all one Religion For ye were said he erroneously taught by soch Men as died yesterday Of whom I will speak but for no Malice as God I take to record His Opinions were wherefore he died one that Priests might have Wives the other that in the Sacrament was not the very Body and Blood of our Saviour Christ substantially and really The first that Priests should have Wives he could prove by no Scripture but by three other Authors And he was demaunded if he were willing to stand to the last He answered Yea before God Then the Book laid afore him and read to him in Latin and English and he reading the English of it himself said he would read the Latin and so did and confuted himself And stood then
as amazed as can witness five hundred And I dare say there were a thousand Texts rehersed to him to the contrary but he could answer not to one And so had divers Admonitions but was so stubborn in his own Conceit according to Paul's Saying Si sit homo sectuum Let him be admonished once or twice And so hath he been If he will not turn let him cast out And so he is now For better were it so to do then to put many Souls in danger with evil Doctrin And one Text I will declare to you for Priests having Wives S. Paul when he was tempted rid to our Saviour Christ and asked what Remedy were for Temptation for his Temptation but whether it were of Lust of the Flesh or vain Glory I cannot tell but let that go to the Opinion of Men. And Christ answered Why Paul is not my Grace sufficient for thee But he did not say Take a Wife and let that be thy Remedy But they strait take a Drab by the Tail saying That no Man can live Chast without the Gift of God And as concerning the Sacrament to prove it he brought Paul in the end of the first to the Corinthians Luke Iohn Sixth of Mark. And it is not to be called the Supper of the Lord as these Banbury Glosers have called it For Coenâ factâ he said This is my Body which is or shall be betrayed And in one Text Cyprian one of the Primitive Church said in a Sermon of the Supper The Bread which Christ gave to his Disciples by the omnipotency of the Word is made Flesh. And Dionysius and Hilary similiter To err is a small Fault but to persevere is a devilish thing For it moveth many Minds to see an Heretick constant and to die But it is not to be mervelled at for the Devil hath Power over Soul and Body For he causeth Men to drown and hang themselves at their own Wills Much more he may cause a Man to burn seeing he is tied and cannot fly Barnabe saith so Cyprian unus Clericorum saith That grievous is the Fault of Discord in Christ's Church and cannot be cleansed with Burning or any other Sacrifice Ergo Damned For sure he died in damnable Case if he did not otherwise repent in the Hour of Pain For though he did burn in this Case he sheweth himself a Christian Man no otherwise than the Devil sheweth himself like Christ and so maketh no End of a Martyr Austin saith He that will deny the Church to be his Mother God will deny him to be his Son And so Pope Iulius the third prayed for c. He made an end for lack of his Books because he said he was but new come and brought not his Books with him Item Last The Person being laboured by the way to have left his Opinion answered Alas what would you have me to do Once I have Recanted and my Living is gone I am but a Wretch Make an end of me And I warrant you said not one word at his Death more than desired the People to pray for him Which was no Token of a Christian but of Stubbornness But I am glad that ye were so quiet A right Popish Sermon patched up of Ignorance Malice Uncharitableness Lies and Improbabilities That he had no Scripture to produce for himself That his Adversaries had a thousand against him That he should be willing to stand to a Quotation out of a Father and know no better what it was as when he saw it to be so confounded and amazed That if he were so convinced and speechless that he should be so stupid and senseless to suffer Death for Matters which he saw were not true But such a Character was here given of him as was no ways agreeable to the great Learning Wisdom and Piety that this excellent Man was endued with Iohn Ponet or Poinet a Kentish Man and of Queen's College Cambridg was another of his Chaplains a very Ingenious as well as Learned Man Afterward Bishop of Rochester and then of Winchester A great Friend to that accomplished Scholar Roger Ascham who in confidence of his Friendship writ to him when Domestick Chaplain to the Arch-bishop to deliver his Letter and forward his Suit to his Grace to dispense with him from eating Flesh and keeping Lent as was mentioned before He was of great Authority with Cranmer and of his Council in Matters of Divinity We may judg of his great Abilities by what Godwin speaks of him viz. That he had left divers Writings in Latin and English and that besides the Greek and Latin he was well seen in the Italian and Dutch Tongues Which last he learned probably in his Exile That he was an excellent Mathematician and gave unto King Henry VIII a Dial of his own Devise shewing not only the Hour of the Day but also the Day of the Month the Sign of the Sun the Planetary Hour yea the Change of the Moon the Ebbing and Flowing of the Sea with divers other things as strange to the great wonder of the King and his no less Commendation And he was as eminent for his Gift in Preaching as for his other Qualifications being preferred by King Edward for some excellent Sermons preached before him One of our Historians writes that he was with Sir Thomas Wyat in his Insurrection and after his Defeat fled into Germany where in the City of Strasburg he died about the Year 1556. But Bale speaks not a word of his being with Wyat but that he died being 40 Years of Age buried at Strasburgh and attended honourably to his Grave with abundance of Learned Men and Citizens Thomas Becon a Suffolk Man seems to have been his Chaplain To Cranmer Becon dedicated his Treatise of Fasting wherein he mentioned several Benefits he had received from the Arch-bishop One whereof was his making him one of the Six Preachers of Canterbury He was deprived in Queen Mary's Reign as all the other five were for being Married He was a famous Writer as well as Preacher in the Reigns of King Henry King Edward Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth So eminent that he was one of the three Vernon and Bradford being the other two that were sent for by Queen Mary's Council and committed to the Tower in the beginning of her Reign viz. August 16. 1553. From whence he was not delivered till March 22. following During which time as he complained himself he underwent a miserable Imprisonment To conceal himself in those dangerous Times he went by the Name of Theodore Basil and was one of those Authors whose Names were specified in a severe Proclamation put forth by King Philip and Queen Mary 1555. as being Writers of Books which as contrary to the Pope and Roman Catholick Religion were forbidden to be brought into England or used and commanded diligently to be searched for and brought to the Ordinary upon Penalty of the Statute of Henry IV against Heresy After his delivery from
twelve Farmes for one and twenty Years taking no manner of Fine for them all these Farmes by and by were put into an Exchange for the King And the King had them not in Possession six Days but they were my Lord North's and other Mens And they were not past one Year in their Possessions but that the Reversion of every of them was sold for more Years some for an hundred Pounds and some for more and some for less making Sweepstakes of altogethers And so was my Lord used in all things almost that he did let out for one and twenty Years By means whereof Justice Hales and other of his Counsel learned in the Laws advised him to let out his Farmes for many Years which might be a mean that they should not be so much desired in Exchanges as they were For those Farmes which came to my Lord came with Years enough upon their Backs And so upon this Conclusion my Lord was fain to alter his Purpose in letting of his Farmes Whereupon he did let S. Gregories in Canterbury to Mr. Nevyl the Priory of Dover Chislet-Park and Curleswood-Park with others for so many Years as he did on purpose to stay them or else he had gone without them one time or other And as I heard say since your Grace was Elect Curleswood-Park was in Exchange and the Rent thereof paid for one half Year unto the Queen's Use. But so soon as they understood there were so many Years to come it was reversed to the Arch-bishoprick again So that hereby partly may be perceived in what State my Lord Cranmer stood with his Lands And as touching the diminishing of his Rents Houses and other Commodities for the Provision of his Hospitality if all things be well pondered he had left the same in better State than he found it For as touching his Exchanges Men ought to consider with whom he had to do especially with such a Prince as would not be bridled nor be gain-said in any of his Requests unless Men would danger altogethers I was by when Otford and Knol were given him My Lord minded to have retained Knol unto himself said That it was too small an House for his Majesty Mary said the King I had rather have it than this House meaning Otford for it standeth on a better Soil This House standeth low and is Rheumatick like unto Croiden where I could never be without Sickness And as for Knol it standeth on a sound perfect wholesome Ground And if I should make abode here as I do surely mind to do now and then I will live at Knol and most of my House shall live at Otford And so by this means both those Houses were delivered up into the King's Hands And as for Otford it is a notable great and ample House Whose Reparations yearly cost my Lord more than Men would think And so likewise did Maidstone which had no manner of Commodity to belong unto it And I am sure that after certain Exchanges past between the King and him there were an hundred Marks a Year or thereabouts allowed unto him in his last Exchanges for Recompence of Parks and Chases And yet those Parks and Chases beside the Provision of his Venison stood him yearly in much more by the reason of the Patents and Fees belonging unto them than he by any means else got by them For as for Curleswood it stood him in twenty Nobles a Year Fee And yet there was no Gain in it but only Conies which the Keeper had also in his Patent So that the Arch-bishop by suppressing of that and raising that small Rent it payeth may spend thereby seven Pounds a Year more than it was accustomed to pay towards the Arch-bishoprick And touching Chislet-Park it came to my Lord in Exchange for eight Pounds a Year And the Farmer payeth ten Pounds So that thereby is gained forty Shillings a Year Wherefore it cannot be indifferently gathered that my Lord in preferring his Friends unto these things hath any whit hindred the Revenues of the Bishoprick And as touching Pasture and Meddow for the Provision of his House both at Croyden and about Canterbury Ford and Chislet there is thrice so much Meddow Pasture and Mersh as was left unto him And as for the Sale of his Woods like as he was driven to exchange them and sell them for to maintain his Hospitality especially having almost twenty Years together Learned Men continually sitting with him in Commission for the trying out and setting forth of the Religion received and for the discussing of other Matters in Controversy Some of them daily in Diet with him and some evermore living in his House So provided he again like Woods more commodious for his Houses As the Blene-Woods belonging to S. Austins and Pyne-Wood and others which be known well enough And as touching Provision for Corn out of Chislet-Court and in other Places it is incredible what a Business he had and adoe with Sir Christopher Hales for that Farm and Corn who challenged it of the King by Promise and so would have defeated my Lord thereof had not the King very benignely stood on his Side And it is no small Revenue to have yearly so much Corn both Wheat Malt and Oats at so mean a Price And therefore let Men leave off that Report of him that he was not beneficial to his Successors Other Bishops some of them lost whole Manors and Lordships without any Exchange at all Thus much my Conscience hath compelled me to say in defence of my Lord and Master his good Name Whom I knew to take as much Care for his Successors in that Bishoprick as ever did Arch-bishop or shall And would have as much advanced the same if the Iniquity of the World would have permitted him Now finally concerning his Behaviour towards his Family I think there was never such a Master among Men both feared and intirely beloved For as he was a Man of most gentle Nature void of all crabbid and churlish Conditions so he could abide no such Quality in any of his Servants But if any such Outragiousness were in any of his Men or Family the correction of those Enormities he always left to the ordering of his Officers who weekly kept a Counting-house And if any thing universally were to be reformed or talked of on that Day which commonly was Friday the same was put to Admonition And if it were a Fault of any particular Man he was called forth before the Company To whom warning was given That if he so used himself after three Monitions he should lose his Service There was an Infamy of him that he should have been an Hostler Which the ignorant Popish Priests for very Mâ—â—ice had published against him Saying That he had no manner of Lâ—â—rning at all more than Hostlers are wont to have And this Rumour sprang of that that when he had married his first Wife being Reader then of
Buckingham-College he did put his Wife to Board in an Inn at Cambridg and he resorting thither unto her in the Inn some ignorant Priests named him to be the Hostler and his Wife the Tapster This Bruit then began but it much more was quickned when he was Arch-bishop than before Insomuch that a Priest far North about Scarborough sitting among his Neighbours at the Ale-house and talking of Arch-bishop Cranmer divers Men there commending him What said the Priest make ye so much of him He was but an Hostler and hath as much Learning as the Goslings of the Green that go yonder Upon which words the honest Men of the Parish which heard him gave Information to my Lord Crumwel of those his slanderous Words The Priest was sent for before the Council and cast into the Fleet my Lord Cranmer not being that Day â—mong the Council nor hearing no manner of word of the Priestâ—s Accusation It chanced the Priest to lie in the Fleet eight or nine Weeks and nothing said unto him He then made Suit by one named Chersey a Grocer dwelling within Ludgate now yet alive and Unkle as I suppose to the Priest unto my Lord Cranmer for his Deliverance This Chersey brought the Copy of the Priest's Accusation from my Lord Crumwel's House Whereby plainly appeared there was nothing laid unto the Priest but those Words against my L. Cranmer And therefore he besought him to help him out of Prison for it had put him to great Charges living there and he had a Benefice which was unserved in his Absence and said That he was very sorry he had so unhonestly abused himself towards his Grace Whereupon my Lord Cranmer sent to the Fleet for the Priest When he came before my Lord said my Lord Cranmer to him It is told me that you be Prisoner in the Fleet for calling me an Hostler and reporting that I have no more Learning than a Gosling Did you ever see me before this Day No forsooth quoth the Priest What meant you then to call me an Hostler and so to deface me among your Neighbours The Priest made his Excuse and said that he was overseen with Drink Well said my Lord's Grace now ye be come you may oppose me to know what Learning I have Begin in Grammar if you will or else in Philosophy or other Sciences or Divinity I beseech your Grace pardon me said the Priest I have no manner of Learning in the Latin Tongue but altogether in English Well then said my Lord if you will not oppose me I will oppose you Are you not wont to read the Bible quoth my Lord Yes that we do daily said the Priest I pray you tell me quoth my Lord then who was David's Father The Priest stood still and said I cannot surely tell your Lordship Then said my Lord again if you cannot tell me that yet declare unto me who was Solomon's Father Surely quoth the Priest I am nothing at all seen in those Genealogies Then I perceive quoth my Lord however you have reported of me that I had no Learning I can now bear you Witness that you have none at all There are such a sort of you in this Realm that know nothing nor will know nothing but sit upon your Ale-bench and slander all Honest and Learned Men. If you had but common Reason in your Heads you that have named me an Hostler you might well know that the King having in hand one of the hardest Questions that was moved out of the Scripture this many Years would not send an Hostler unto the Bishop of Rome and the Emperor's Council and other Princes to answer and dispute in that so hard a Question even among the whole College of Cardinals and the Rout of Rome By all likelihood the King lacked much the help of Learned Men that was thus driven to send an Hostler on such a Voyage Or else the King hath many idle Priests without Wit or Reason that can so judg of the Prince and his Council and of the weighty Matters of the Realm God amend you said he and get ye Home to your Cure and 〈◊〉 hence-forth learn to be an honest Man or at least a reasona 〈◊〉 〈…〉 lamenting his Folly went his way into his Country and my Lord Cranmer discharged him out of the Fleet because there was no Matter against him but that which only concerned my Lord. My Lord Crumwel within four Days after came to my Lord Cranmer and sware a great Oath That the Popish Knaves should pick out his Eyes and cut his Throat before he would any more rebuke them for slandering him I had thought that the Knave Priest which you have discharged and sent Home should have recanted at Pauls-Cross on Sunday next Yea mary quoth my Lord Cranmer you would have all the World know by that mean that I was an Hostler indeed What manner of Blockheads would so think quoth my Lord Crumwel Too many Papists quoth my Lord Cranmer Howbeit quoth he you have caused the poor Priest to spend all that he hath in Prison and would you now put him to open Shame too He is not the first not by five-hundred of them that hath called me so and therefore I will not now begin to use Extremity against this Priest I perceive he is sorry for it Well quoth my Lord Crumwel if you not care for it no more do I But I warrant you one Day if they may they will make you and me both as vile as Hostlers This I repeat to declare his Lenity and Promptness to remit notable Offences howbeit it should have been placed before if I had remembred it Thus I have hastily penned such Things as came to my Memory since Saturday last Beseeching your Grace to take it in good part being certainly assured that I have declared nothing of mine Head as concerning the very Matters CHAP. XXXII Some Observations upon Arch-bishop Cranmer BEsides these Observations made to my Hand by another of this great Arch-bishop I shall gather some further Observations of his Endowments and Qualities whether Christian or Moral Whereby we shall have occasion offered us of gathering up a few more Memorials of him He was a most profound Learned Man in Divinity as also in the Civil and Canon Laws As appeared by those many voluminous Writings and Common-places by him devised or collected out of all the Fathers and Church-Writers which Peter Martyr reported he himself saw and were indeed communicated to him by the Arch-bishop while he harboured him at Lambeth And there was no Book either of the Antient or Modern Writers especially upon the Point of the Eucharist which he had not noted with his own Hand in the most remarkable Places No Councils Canons Decrees of Popes which he had not read and well considered And from this his indefatigable Reading and exact Knowledg of Authors he ventured publickly before the Pope's Delegate and Queen Mary's Commissioners to make this Challenge That if it could be proved
Apostles of Iesus Christ. And wished heartily that the Christian Conversation of the People were the Letters and Seals of their Offices as the Corinthians were to St. Paul who told them that They were his Letters and the Signs of his Apostleship and not Paper Parchment Lead or Wax Great indeed and painful was his Diligence in promoting God's Truth and reforming this Church Insomuch that he raised up against himself the Malice and Hatred of very many thereby These Memorials before related do abundantly evince the same The Words of Thomas Becon in an Epistle Dedicatory deserve here to be transcribed In plucking up the Enemies Tares and in purging the Lord's Field that nothing may grow therein but pure Wheat your most godly and unrestful Pains most Reverend Father are well known in this Church of England and thankfully accepted of all faithful Christen Hearts Insomuch that very many do daily render unto God most humble and hearty Thanks for the singular and great Benefits which they have received of him through your vertuous Travel in attaining the true Knowledg of Justification and of the Sacrament of Christ's Body and Blood those two things especially he laboured to retrieve and promote a true Knowledg of and such other Holy Mysteries of our Profession And albeit the Devil roar the World rage and the Hypocrites swell at these your most Christian Labours which you willingly take for the Glory of God and the Edifying of his Congregation yet as you have godly begun so without ceasing continue unto the end And so he did to the effusion of his Blood not many Years after For he was very sensible of the gross Abuses and Corruptions into which the Christian Church had sunk Which made him labour much to get it purged and restored to its Primitive Constitution and Beauty And this he ceased not to make King Henry sensible of putting him upon the Reformation of the English Church as he could find Occasion and Convenience serve him to move him thereunto Which found at last that good effect upon the King that towards the latter Years of his Reign he was fully purposed to proceed to a regulating of many more things than he had done But the subtilty of Gardiner Bp of Winton and his own Death prevented his good Designs While the aforesaid Bishop was Ambassador Abroad employed about the League between the Emperor and the English and French Kings our Arch-bishop took the opportunity of his Absence to urge the King much to a Reformation and the King was willing to enter into serious Conference with him about it And at last he prevailed with the King to resolve to have the Roods in every Church pulled down and the accustomed Ringing on Alhallow-Night suppress'd and some other vain Ceremonies And it proceeded so far that upon the Arch-bishop's going into Kent to visit his Diocess the King ordered him to cause two Letters to be drawn up prepared for him to sign The one to be directed to the Arch-bishop of Canterbury and the other to the Arch-bishop of York Who were therein to be commanded to issue forth their Precepts to all the Bishops in their respective Provinces to see those Enormities redressed without delay Which our Arch-bishop accordingly appointed his Secretary to do And the Letters so drawn up were sent by the Arch-bishop up to Court But the King upon some Reasons of State suggested to him in a Letter from Gardiner his Ambassador beyond Sea being by some made privy to these Transactions suspended the signing of them And that put a stop to this Business for that time till some time after the King at the Royal Banquet made for Annebault the French King's Ambassador leaning upon him and the Arch-bishop told them both his Resolution of proceeding to a total Reformation of Religion signifying that within half a Year the Mass both in his Kingdom and in that of France should be changed into a Communion and the usurped Power of the Bishop of Rome should be wholly rooted out of both and that both Kings intended to exhort the Emperor to do the same in his Territories or else they would break off the League with him And at that time also he willed the Arch-bishop to draw up a Form of this Reformation to be sent to the French King to consider of This he spake in the Month of August a few Months before his Death This his Purpose he also signified to Dr. Bruno Ambassador here from Iohn Frederick Duke of Saxony some little time after saying That if his Master's Quarrel with the Emperor was only concerning Religion he advised him to stand to it strongly and he would take his part But the King's Death prevented all And as for this King 's next Successor King Edward the Arch-bishop had a special Care of his Education Whose Towardliness and zealous Inclination to a Reformation was attributed to the said Arch-bishop and three other Bishops viz. Ridley Hoper and Latimer by Rodulph Gualter of Zurick Who partly by his living sometime in England and partly by his long and intimate Familiarity and Correspondence with many of the best Note here was well acquainted with the Matters relating to this Kingdom Of the great Influence of one of these upon this King viz. the Arch-bishop the former Memorials do sufficiently shew CHAP. XXXIII Arch-bishop Cranmer procures the Use of the Scriptures THE Arch-bishop was a great Scripturist and in those darker Times of Popery was the chief Repairer of the Reputation of the Holy Scriptures Urging them still for the great Standard and Measure in all controverted Matters relating to Religion and the Church By these he disintangled King Henry VIII his great Matrimonial Cause when all his other Divines who had the Pope's Power and Laws too much in their Eyes were so puzzled about it Shewing how no Humane Dispensation could enervate or annul the Word of God And in the Course he took about the Reforming of Religion the Holy Scripture was the only Rule he went by casting by School-men and the Pope's Canons and Decretals and adhering only to the more sure Word of Prophecy and Divine Inspiration And so Roger Ascham in a Letter to Sturmius in the Year 1550 when they were very busy in the Reformation writes Thaâ—â—uch was the Care of their Iosiah meaning King Edward the Arch-bishop of Canterbury and the whole Privy-Council for true Religion that they laboured in nothing more than that as well the Doctrine as Discipline of Religion might be most purely drawn out of the Fountain of the Sacred Scriptures and that that Roman Sink whence so many Humane Corruptions abounded in the Church of Christ might be wholly stopped up This his high Value of the Scriptures made him at last the happy Instrument of restoring them to the Common People by getting them after divers Years opposition printed in the English Tongue and set up in Churches for any to read that would for
their Edification and Comfort when for some hundred Years before those Treasures had for the most part been locked up and concealed from them But first great was the Labour of our Arch-bishop before he could get this good Work effected being so disliked and repugned by the Patrons of Popery For he had almost all the Bishops against him as may appear by what I am going to relate The King being by the Arch-bishop brought to encline to the publishing thereof the Translation done by Coverdale was by Crumwel or the Arch-bishop presented into the King's Hands and by him committed to divers Bishops of that Time to peruse whereof Stephen Gardiner was one After they had kept it long in their Hands and the King had been divers Times sued unto for the Publication thereof at last being called for by the King himself they redelivered the Book And being demanded by the King What their Judgment was of the Translation they answered That there were many Faults therein Well said the King but are there any Heresies maintained thereby They answered There were no Heresies that they could find maintained in it If there be no Heresies said the King then in God's Name let it go abroad among our People This Circumstance I thought fit to mention being the Substance of what Coverdale himself afterwards at a Paul's-Cross-Seâ—mon spake in his own Vindication against some slanderous Reports that were then raised against his Translation declaring his faithful Purpose in doing the same Confessing withal That he did then himself espy some Faults which if he might review it once again as he had done twice before he doubted not he said but to amend This is related by Dr. Fulk who was then one of Coverdale's Auditors and heard him speak and declare all this The first Edition of the Bible was finished by Grafton in the Year 1538 or 1539. That Year our Arch-bishop procured a Proclamation from the King allowing private Persons to buy Bibles and keep them in their Houses And about two or three Years after they were reprinted and backed with the King's Authority the former Translation having been Revised and Corrected whether by certain learned Men of both Universities or by some Members of the Convocation that were then sitting it is uncertain But to this Translation the Arch-bishop added the last Hand mending it in divers Places with his own Pen and fixing a very excellent Preface before it In which he divided his Discourse between two sorts of Men The one such as would not read the Scripture themselves and laboured to stifle it from others The other such as read the Scripture indeed but read it inordinately and turned it into matter of Dispute and Contention rather than to direct their Lives And thereby while they pretended to be Furtherers thereof proved but Hinderers as the others were these being as blameless almost as those As to the former sort He marvelled at them that they should take Offence at publishing the Word of God For it shewed them to be as much guilty of Madness as those would be who being in Darkness Hunger and Cold should obstinately refuse Light Food and Fire Unto which three God's Word is compared But he attributed it to the prejudice of Custom which was so prevalent that supposing there were any People that never saw the Sun such as the Cimmerii were fancied to be and that God should so order it that that Glorious Light should in process of Time break in upon them at the first some would be offended at it And when Tillage was first found out according to the Proverb many delighted notwithstanding to feed on Mast and Acorns rather than to eat Bread made of good Corn. Upon this Reason he was ready to excuse those who when the Scripture first came forth doubted and drew back But he was of another Opinion concerning such as still persisted in disparaging the publishing of the Scripture judging them not only Foolish and Froward but Peevish Perverse and Indurate And yet if the Matter were to be tried by Custom we might allege Custom for reading the Scripture in the Vulgar Tongue and prescribe more antient Custom than for the contrary Shewing that it was not above an hundred Years since the reading it in English was laid aside within this Realm and that many hundred Years before it had been translated and read in the Saxon Tongue being then the Mother Tongue and that there remained divers Copies of it in old Abbies And when that Language became old and out of common usage it was translated into the newer Tongue And of this many Copies then still remained and were daily found Then from Custom he proceeded to consider the thing in its own Nature shewing how available it was that the Scripture should be read of the Laity For which he takes a large Quotation out of S. Chrysostom in his third Sermon De Lazaro Wherein that Father exhorted the People To read by themselves at home between Sermon and Sermon that what he had said before in his Sermons upon such and such Texts might be the more fixed in their Minds and Memories and that their Minds might be the more prepared to receive what he should say in his Sermons which he was to preach to them And that he ever had and would exhort them not only to give Ear to what was said by the Preacher in the Church but to apply themselves to reading the Scriptures at home in their own Houses And a great deal more upon the same Argument And then as to the other sort our Arch-bishop shewed How there is nothing so good in the World but might be abused and turned from Unhurtful and Wholsome to Hurtful and Noisome As above in the Heavens the Sun Moon and Stars were abused by Idolatry and here on Earth Fire Water Meat Drink Gold Silver Iron Steel are things of great benefit and use and yet we see much harm and mischief done by each of these as well by reason of the lack of Wisdom and Providence in them that suffer Evil by them as by the Malice of them that work the Evil by them Advising therefore all that came to read the Bible which he called The most precious Iewel and most holy Relick that remained upon Earth to bring with them the Fear of God and that they read it with all due Reverence and used their Knowledg thereof not to the vain Glory of frivolous Disputation but to the Honour of God Encrease of Vertue and Edification of themselves and others And then he backed this his Counsel with a large Passage out of Gregory Nazianzen which was levelled against such as only talked and babbled of the Scripture out of Season but were little the better for it And lastly he concluded his Preface by directing to such Qualifications as were proper for such as came to read these Sacred Volumes Namely That he ought to bring with him a Fear of Almighty God and
would not be allowed any well-disposed Person to relieve his Necessity nor to give him an Alms a Privilege allowed any Beggar beside And when a Gentleman of Gloucestershire sensible of the Arch-bishop's Need and withal knowing how dangerous it was to give the poor Arch-bishop any Money had conveyed somewhat to the Bailiffs to be by their Hands bestowed on him Boner and Thirleby the two Bishops that degraded him staid this Gentleman intending to send him up to the Council had he not gotten off by the Intercession of some Friends CHAP. XXXV Some Account of Arch-bishop Cranmer's House-keeping BUT the more fully to confute this Calumny it will not be amiss to look more narrowly into his House-keeping His daily custom at Lambeth was to dine in a Room above where all Noble-men and Persons of better Quality that came to dine with him were entertained Here he was very honourably served both with Dishes and Attendants In the Hall the Table was every Day very plentifully furnished both for Houshold-Servants and Strangers with three or four principal head-Messes of Officers Besides the Relief of the Poor at his Gates And which is a very observable Charity as well as Hospitality he appropriated his Mansion-house at Bekesborn in Kent and his Parsonage-Barn for Harbour and Lodgings for the Poor Sick and Maimed Souldiers that came from the Wars of Bulloign and other Parts beyond Seas For these he also appointed an Almoner a Physician and a Chirurgeon to attend on them and to dress and administer Physick to such of them as were not able to resort to their own Countries Having also daily from his Kitchin hot Broth and Meat Besides the common Alms of his Houshold that were bestowed upon the poor People of the Country And when any of these were recovered and were able to travel they had Money given them to bear their Charges according to the number of Miles they were to pass before they got Home I do not know whether some might have taken Advantage thus to slander him from a laudable Endeavour of his to reduce within some Bounds the Provisions of Clergy-mens Tables which in the latter Times of King Henry the Eighth grew to great Excess and Extravagancy so unbecoming Spiritual Men. For in the Year 1541 the Arch-bishop with the Consent of the other Arch-bishop and most of the Bishops and divers other Deans and Arch-Deacons made a Constitution for moderating the Fare of their Tables viz. That Arch-bishops should not exceed six divers kinds of Flesh or as many Dishes of Fish on Fish-days A Bishop not above Five A Dean or Arch-Deacon Four and all under that Degree Three But an Arch-bishop was allowed at second Course to have four Dishes a Bishop Three and all others Two as Custards Tarts Fritters Cheese Apples Pears c. But if any of the inferior Clergy should entertain any Arch-bishop Bishop Dean or Arch-Deacon or any of the Laity of like Degree as Duke Marquess Earl Vicount Baron Lord Knight they might have such Provision as were meet for their Degree Nor was their Diet to be limited when they should receive an Ambassador to recommend I suppose to Foreigners the English Hospitality It was ordered also That of the greater Fish or Fowl as Cranes Swans Turkies Hadocks Pike Tench there should be but one in a Dish Of lesser Sorts than they as Capons Pheasants Conies Woodcocks but Two Of less sorts still as of Partridges an Arch-bishop Three a Bishop and other Degrees under him Two The Number of the Blackbirds were also stinted to Six at an Arch-bishop's Table and to Four for a Bishop And of little Birds as Larks Snytes c. the Number was not to exceed Twelve But so strongly bent were the Clergy in those Days to this sort of Sensuality that these Injunctions of our Arch-bishop were observed but two or three Months and so they returned to their old Superfluity again The Arch-bishop's pious Design hereby was only to curb Intemperance and unnecessary Prodigality in such upon whose Office those Vices cast such just Reflections but it could not reasonably argue any covetous Temper in him for that the Poor might not fare the worse for this Intrenchment of Exorbitant Hospitality but rather the better the Arch-bishop in these aforesaid Orders provided That whatsoever was spared out of the old House-keeping should not be pocketed up but laid out and spent in plain Meats for the Relief of poor People And that this Charge may still appear to be nothing but a meer detraction proceeding from Envy or some other ill Principle others there were that would blame him for the contrary Vice of too much lavishing and unprofitable Expence So hard a matter is it for the best Men to escape the spiteful and venomous Insinuations of the World But he patiently and with an even Mind bore all CHAP. XXXVI Arch-bishop Cranmer Humble Peaceable Bold in a good Cause FOR which is another thing to be remarked in him he was very Humble and Condescending and did not only bear to be reproved but was thankful for it and that even when the Reproof was undeserved Which was the more to be valued in him considering the Height and Dignity of his Calling To give an Instance or two of this When in the Year 1552 Cecyl had charged him with the Imputation of Covetousness as a Report that went of him in the Court and which himself seemed partly to believe begging withal Pardon of his Grace for his freedom with him Our Arch-bishop told him That as for the Admonition he took it very thankfully and that he had ever been most glad to be admonished by his Friends accounting no Man so foolish as he that would not hear friendly Admonishment And when at another time the same Cecyl who would always take the liberty to speak his Mind to his Friends whensoever he thought they wanted Counsel had signified to him the Hazard he incurred in not shewing more Compliance towards the Duke of Northumberland who now swayed all and then apologizing for his Boldness Cranmer was so far from taking this ill that he returned him his very hearty Thanks for his friendly Letter and Advertisements desiring him to be assured that he took the same in such good part and to proceed of such a friendly Mind as he ever looked for at his Hands and whereof he would not be unmindful if Occasion hereafter served to requite the same And this good Temper led him also to Gentleness and Lenity He was no Huffer nor Contender but of an exceeding peaceable and amicable Spirit Whereunto he was moved by the Reason of Policy as well as Religion Because he well saw how a contentious quarrelsome Disposition in great Men would be apt to give an ill Example unto Inferiors There happened once in the Year 1552 a Contest between him and the Lord-Warden of the Cinque-Ports who lived not far from him and so probably it might be about some worldly Matters
It was Sir Thomas Cheyny who in the Year 1549 was one of those that met with Warwick in London and published a Proclamation against the Arch-bishop's Friend the Duke of Somerset as a Traitor Which might be an occasion that the Arch-bishop did not much affect Cheyny nor Cheyny the Arch-bishop Concerning this Difference between them which it seems was taken notice of at Court when his true Friend Cecyl had wrote to him advising a Reconciliation he gave this Christian and meek Answer from his House at Ford That there was no Man more loth to be in Contention with any Man than he was especially with him who was his near Neighbour dwelling both in one County and whose familiar and entire Friendship he most desired and that for the Quietness of the whole County Adding That the Examples of the Rulers and Heads would the People and Members follow His Peaceableness also appeared in his hearty Desires of the Publick Peace as well as Private When upon occasion of hearing of the Wars that were about the Year 1552 eagerly followed both in Christendom and out of it he used these words The Sophy and the Turk the Emperor and the French King not much better in Religion than they such it seems was his Censure of them by reason of the Cruelty and Persecution they exercised and the Disturbances they made in the World rolling the Stone or turning the Wheel of Fortune up and down I pray God send us Peace and Quietness with all Realms as well as among our selves But though he were of so quiet and mild a Spirit yet being a plain down-right Man he would never learn the Arts of Flattery and base Compliances with them that were uppermost Which had like to have created him much trouble from Northumberland to whom he carried not himself with that Deference and Pleasingness as he expected For Cranmer knew the bad Heart of this haughty Man and could not forget the ill Measure his Friend the Duke of Somerset had found at his Hands He did not care to make any Application to him nor to be an Instrument in forwarding any of his designing Business When he was to write up to some of the Court concerning Reiner Wolf I suppose for Licence to print the Articles of Religion Anno 1552 he desired to take Cecyl's Advice to whom he should write For I know not saith he to whom to write but my Lord of Northumberland to whom to make any Address he would fain have avoided if he could There was about the Year 1552 a Commission issued out for a strict Enquiry to be made after all such as had defrauded the King of any Goods or Treasure accruing to him by the suppression of Chauntries or that belonged to Churches Now this was done by Northumberland and his Creatures on purpose that it might light heavy upon Somerset's Friends who had been the chief Visitors in those Affairs and had many of them been supposed to have enriched themselves thereby Commissioners were appointed in each County In Kent the Commission was directed to the Arch-bishop and to several other Gentlemen and Justices of Peace The Arch-bishop perceiving well the Spite and Malice of this Commission acted very slowly in it Insomuch that Northumberland began to be highly angry with him Cecyl observing it and having ever a great Veneration for that good Man and fearing he might feel the Effects of his Fury writ to him signifying Northumberland's Displeasure and giving him Advice to take heed of him For which the Arch-bishop thanked him and prudently writ his Excusatory Letter to that Duke dated November â—0 signifying That the Cause of his Stay of the Commission was because he was alone and that the Gentlemen and Justices of Peace who were in Commission with him were then at London probably because of the Term before whose coming Home if he should proceed without them he might as he said travel in vain and take more Pains than he should do good And by such soft but honest words mollifying him for the Procrastination of that which he had no mind to meddle in But not long after he and Ridley Bishop of London with him fell under great Displeasure with this Duke and the rest of the great Men of his Party who in the latter end of King Edward's Reign governed all The Reason whereof was for opposing as much as they could though to no effect the Spoil of the Church-Goods which were taken away only by a Commandment of the Higher Powers without Request or Consent of them to whom they did belong as Ridley himself relates in his Treatise wherein he lamented the Change of Religion in England Which indeed was more than ever Henry VIII had done Add to the rest that our Bishop was of a bold and undaunted Courage in the Cause of God and his Church It was a brave and generous Act and worthy the chief Bishop of the English Church I mean that publick Challenge which he made to maintain the Common-Prayer Book and the other parts of the Reformation by the Scripture and Fathers in open Disputation against whomsoever if the Queen so pleased to permit it Which was done by him soon after the Queen's coming to the Throne And had he not been prevented by others who dispersed Copies of this Challenge without his knowledg it had been made very solemnly as he freely told the Queen's Council by fixing this his Declaration on the Doors of S. Pauls and other Churches with his Hand and Seal to it And his Courage herein appeared the greater because he was at this very Time under a Cloud and in great Danger having some time before now been convented before the Council and confined to Lambeth And whosoever shall consider that good Progress that by his Means was made in Religion not only in King Edward's Reign but even in that of King Henry under the Discouragements of antiently-rivited Superstition and Idolatry and withal shall ponder the haughty Nature of that Prince of so difficult Address and so addicted to the old Religion and how dangerous it was to dissent from him or to attempt to draw him off from his own Perswasions cannot but judg Cranmer to have been of a very bold Spirit to venture so far as he did And undoubtedly his Courage went an equal pace with his Wisdom and Discretion and was no whit inferior to his other excellent Qualifications And this I say the rather to vindicate the Memory of this most Reverend Prelat from an unworthy Reflection made upon him in a trisling Account of his Life Wherein he is charged to be Of too easy and flexible a Disposition which made him cowardly to comply with the Church of Rome And that though he never did any harm to the Protestants yet he did not unto them so much good as he might or ought For the confutation of which I appeal to numberless Passages which I have written of him But
have brought it to pass But I verily believe the quite contrary to this confident Assertion and that he would have owned the Truth to the last as he did afterwards in the Reign of that King's Daughter Q. Mary That he always fell jump with them that governed and could do most No he never fell in with Gardiner who sometime had the Ascendent over King Henry nor with the Duke of Northumberland who could do most and did all for a time with the King Edward That when King Henry was large towards the Protestants Cranmer was so also joining with Crumwel to protect them But when the King became more strait and rigorous especially after the Six Articles Cranmer was ready to prosecute the same He argued long and earnestly in the House against those Six Articles and when he saw they would pass he protested against it and was so troubled about it that the King sent the Duke of Norfolk and the Lord Crumwel and divers other Noble Persons to comfort him in the King's Name So that I hardly think he would after this be brought to prosecute that bloody Act the making of which he so utterly disliked Nor is there the least Foot-step of it in History Indeed Parsons bringeth in some Persons in whose Deaths he would have the Arch-bishop to have a Hand As may appear saith he by the Sentence of Death pronounced against Lambert Tho. Gerard William Jerome and Ann Ascue and others condemned by him for denying the Real Presence Though in King Henry's Time the Arch-bishop believed the Real Presence yet he was not for putting any to Death that denied it No such extream Rigours for an Error he utterly detested Lambert suffered before the Act of the Six Articles Nor did the Arch-bishop condemn him but only by the King's Command disputed against him Gerard he means Garret and Ierome and Ann Ascue were condemned and burnt indeed but he had no manner of hand either in their Condemnation or Death as we can find in our Histories But Winchester Boner and Wriothesly and others of that Gang shed those good Peoples Blood And it is an impudent Falshood to lay their Condemnation to the Arch-bishop's Charge He saith further That to the King's Will and Liking he resolved to conform himself as well in Religion as in all other Things If he had said this of Bishop Gardiner the Character would have better by far fitted him He saith That he divorced the King of his own Authority from Queen Katherine Whereas in truth what he and Winchester and other Bishops did in this Affair was by Commission from the King and not by their own Authority That he married the King to Queen Ann. That it was in open Parliament under his Hand-writing yet extant in publick printed Records to his eternal shame that the Queen that is Queen Ann was never true Wife unto the said King Where was the eternal Shame of this when he set his Hand to no more than what she her self confessed before him See more of this before That after this he married the King to Jane Seymour and after to Queen Ann of Cleves and after that to Katherine Howard and after that to Katherine Parre Which we must take upon his Word For I think it hard by any good History to know it And what if Cranmer did all this That he joined with the Protector in overthrowing K. Henry 's Will and with Dudley against the Protector Palpable Falshoods The contrary whereof is notoriously known to any ordinary Historian Of the same Truth is That he joined with Dudley and the Duke of Suffolk for the overthrow of the King 's two Daughters and after that with Arundel Pembroke Paget for the overthrow of Northumberland and Suffolk He joined with these for the setting the true Heir in the Throne not for the overthrow of any particular Persons Again he saith Cranmer and Ridley followed K. Henry 's Religion and Humour while he lived and resolved to enjoy the Pleasures and Sensualities of this Time of K. Edward so far as any way they might attain unto No they were Men more mortified and that made littlâ— Account of the Pleasures and Vanities of this wretched World Getting Authority into their Hands by the Protector and others that were in most Place began to lay lustily about them and to pull down all them both of the Clergy and others whom they thought to be able and likely to stand in their way or resist their Inventions Instancing in Gardiner and Boner and speaking of their unjust Persecution and Deprivation by such violent and calumnious manner as is proper to Hereticks to use Whereby a Man may take a taste what they meant to have done if they had had time Here they are set forth as a couple of most worldly ambitious haughty Men contriving by all however base and unlawful ways to build up themselves and their Fortunes upon the Ruin of others and to beat down all that opposed their Designs Whereas to any that shall read their Histories there is nothing in the World so contrary to their Aims Tempers and Inclinations And things were done towards the two Bishops before-mentioned with great Mildness and Patience under unsufferable Provocations offered by them Nor was it Cranmer's and Ridley's doings but rather the King's Council who thought not fit to put up the Affronts those Bishops had offered to the Government He saith That in King Edward 's Time Cranmer plaid the Tyrant That be punished one Thomas Dobb a Master of Arts of Cambridg casting him into the Counter where he died And John Hume imprisoned for the same Cause by Cranmer Both these Passages the Author had from Fox Dobbs indeed in the very beginning of K. Edward's Reign disturbed the Mass that was saying in a Chappel in S. Pauls For which the Mayor complained of him to the Arch-bishop And what could he do better than commit him to the Counter both to punish him for making a publick Disturbance in the Church and also to deliver him from the Rage of the Multitude till his Pardon could be gotten him Which was obtained soon after from the Duke of Somerset But he suddenly died in Prison before his Deliverance And as for Hume he was a Servant to a very stiff Papist who sent him up to the Arch-bishop with a grievous Complaint against him for speaking against the Mass but whether the Arch-bishop imprisoned him or what followed Fox mentioneth not and leaves it uncertain what was done with him He saith That Cranmer stood resolutely for the Carnal Presence in the Sacrament in K. Edward 's first Parliament Wherein a Disputation about it was continued for the space of four Months that is from Novemb 4. to March 14. Which was the full time of the second Session of that first Parliament and was in the Year 1548. What he means by this long Disputation in that Parliament for so many Months I cannot tell Does he mean that the Parliament did nothing else all
that Session Indeed there was once a notable Dispute of the Sacrament in order to an Uniformity of Prayer to be established Or does he mean that this four Months Disputation was the Work of thâ— Convocation sitting that Parliament-time Before it indeed lay now thâ— Matter of the Priests Marriage Which they agreed to almost three against one And likewise of receiving the Sacrament in both Kinds Which was also agreed to Nemine Contradiâ—ente But not a word of any Disputation thâ—n about the Real Presence And yet 't is strange that he should with such Confidence put this Story upon thâ— World of four Months Disputation in the Parliament concerning thâ— Real Presence and that the Arch-bishop then was so resâ—â—ute for it Which cannot be true neither on this Account that Cranmer was a Year or two before this come off from that Opinion He adds That Cranmer stood resolutely in that first Parliament for a Real Presence against Zuinglianism But there was neither in that Parliament nor in that Convocation a word of the Real Presence And that Cranmer and Ridley did allow a Râ—al Presence and would not endure the Sacrament should be contemptibly spoken of as some now began to do The Real Presence that Parsons here means is the gross Corporal Presence Flesh Blood and Bone as they used to say This Real Presence Cranmer and Ridley did not allow of at this time of Day Now they were better enlightned But most true it is notwithstanding that they could not endure to have the Sacrament contemptibly spoken of He tells us Romantickly on the same Argument That many Posts went to and fro between P. Martyr and Cranmer while the imaginary Disputation before-mentioned lasted whether Lutheranism or Zuinglianism should be taken up for the Doctrine of the Church of England For that he was come in his Reading upon the Eleventh of the first Epistle to the Corinthians to those words This is my Body and did not know how to determine it till it was resolved about The Message returned him was That he should stay and entertain himself in his Readings upon other Matters for a while And so the poor Friar did as Parsons calls that Learned Man with Admiration and Laughter of all his Scholars Surely some of them had more Esteem and Reverence for him Standing upon those precedent words Accepit Panem c. And Gratias dedit c. Fregit Et dixit Accipite Manducate c. Discoursing largely of every one of these Points And surely they were words of sufficient weight to be stood upon and Points to be discoursed largely of And bearing one from the other that ensued Hoc est Corpus meum But when the Post at length came that Zuinglianism must be defended then stepped up P. Martyr boldly the next Day and treated of This is my Body Adding moreover that he wondred how any Man could be of any other Opinion The Reporters of this Story Parsons makes to be Saunders Allen and Stapleton and others that were present Excellent Witnesses P. Martyr is here represented as a Man of no Conscience or Honesty but ready to say and teach whatsoever others badâ— him be the Doctrine right or wrong and at the Beck of the State to be a Lutheran or a Zuinglian But if he were of such a versatile Mind why did he leave his Country his Relations his Substance his Honour that he had there Which he did because he could not comply with the Errors of the Church in which he lived But all this fine pleasant Tale is spoiled in case Martyr were not yet come to Oxford to be Reader there For he came over into England but in the end of November 1548 and was then sometime with the Arch-bishop before he went to Oxford Which we may well conjecture was till the Winter was pretty well over so that he could not well be there before the 14 th of March was past The Author of the Athenae Oxonienses conjectures that he came to Oxon in February or the beginning of March but that it was the beginning of the next Year that the King appointed him to read his Lecture So that either he was not yet at Oxon or if he were he had not yet begun his Reading till the Parliament was over And thus we have traced this Story till it is quite vanished Further still he writes That Cranmer wrote a Book for the Real Presence and another against it afterwards Which two Books Boner brought forth and would have read them when he was deposed by Cranmer and Ridley or at leastwise certain Sentences thereof that were contrary one to the other If Cranmer wrote any Book for the Real Presence it was in Luther's not in the Popish Sense and against that Sense indeed he wrote in his Book of the Sacrament Nor did Boner bring any such Books forth at his Deposition or Deprivation nor offered to read them nor any Sentences out of them for ought I can find in any Historians that speak of Boner's Business And I think none do but Fox who hath not a word of it though he hath given a large Narration of that whole Affair Indeed Boner at his first appearance told the Arch-bishop That he had written well on the Sacrament and wondred that he did not more honour it To which the Arch-bishop replied seeing him commend that which was against his own Opinion That if he thought well of it it was because he understood it not Thus we may see how Parsons writ he cared not what and took up any lying flying Reports from his own Party that might but serve his Turn But observe how this Writer goes on with his Tale But Cranmer blushing suffered it not to be shewed but said he made no Book contrary to another Then he needed not to have blushed But if he did it must be at the Impudence of Boner who carried himself in such a tumultuous bold manner throughout his whole Process as though he had no Shame left And lastly to extract no more Passages out of this Author to prove that our Arch-bishop was for a Corporal Presence in the beginning of King Edward he saith That in the first Year of that Reign he was a principal Cause of that first Statute intituled An Act against such Persons as shall unreverently speak against the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ commonly called The Sacrament of the Altar And a very good Act it was But it does not follow that because the Arch-bishop was the Cause of this Act that therefore he believed a gross Carnal Presence the plain Design of the Act being occasioned by certain Persons who had contemned the whole Thing for certain Abuses heretofore committed therein I use the very words of the Act and had called it by vile and unseemly Words And it was levelled against such as should deprave despise or contemn the Blessed Sacrament Nor is there any word in that Act used in favour of the
the controversyes of the faith Also I have sent the taxe of al the stats of thempire how many Souldiers every man is lymitted unto for the aide agaynst the Turk Wherein your grace may perceyve that the greatest Prince in Germany onely the Duke of Burgondy and Austry except is not appoynted above 120 horsemen and 554 fotemen Thus our Lorde evermore have your highnes in his preservation and governance From Regenspurgh the iiij day of September Your graces most humble subjecte Chaplain and beidman Thomas Cranmer NUM III. A parcel of Iewels sent from Greenwich to Hampton Court to the King To the receipt of which he set his hand Henry R. SENT unto the King's Highnes fro Grenewiche to Hampton courte by Master Norrys the xxi st day of Septembre in the xxiiij th year of his graces Reigne thies parcelles ensueing Which parcellex his grace doth knoledge him self to have receyved by this present bylle signed with his most gracieux hand the day and yere above expressed Furste One carkeyne of gold antique warke having a shielde of gold set with a great Rose contenyng xij Dyamants One fayer table Dyamant One poynted Dyamant One table Rubye One table Emerawde And iij fayer hinging perles 2. Item Another Carkeyne of golde of harts with ij hands holding a great owche of golde set with a great table balasse One pointed dyamant Two table dyamants Whereof one rising with Lozanges and the other flat And one other long lozanged diamant And iiij perles with one longe perle pendaunt 3. Item Another Carkeyne of golde enameled with blac and white with an owche of golde enameled white and blew Set with a great rockey Rubye One rocky Emerawde One pointed Dyamant One table Dyamant A harte of a Dyamant rising ful of Lozanges And one fayer hinging perle 4. Item Another Carkeyne of lynks of gold The one enameled blac the other gold having an owche of golde set with a great rockey balasse two smal table Dyamants and one Lozanged Dyamant Five slight perles and one long perle pendaunt therat 5. Item Another Carkeyne of gold garnished thorowly with xxij coletts of dyamants contening in al lxxvij diamant smal and great and xliij perles with an owche of Antique set with xiiij dyamants one rockey Rubye and one rockey Emerawde and a flat round hinging perle 6. Item Another Carkeyne of golde enameled blac with an owche set with a fayer table balasse and three smal tryangled dyamants and five perles 7. Item A George on horse back garnished with xvj smal Dyamants And in the belly of the Dragon a rockey perle 8. Item Another Carkeyne of golde al blac having a George on horseback garnished with xviij smal Dyamants And in the belly of the Dragon a perle ragged 9. Item A cheyne of golde of Spaynishe facion enameled white red and black NUM IV. The King to Dr. Boner his Majesty's Agent to declare to the Pope his Appeal from him and his Sentence By the King Henry R. TRusty and Welbeloved we grete ye well Signifying unto the same that we have appelled from the Popes's Sentence lately gevyn against us whiche Appele ye receiving herewith with a Proxy devised for that intent Our mind and pleasure is that if it is thought to you good and beneficial for conservation of the same ye intimate the same to the Pope after the order and forme of Lawe and according to our said proxy sent unto you And if not to advertise us of your mind and opynyon in that behalf Geven under our Signet at our Castell of Windessour the xviij day of August To our Trusty and Welbeloved Mr. Doctor Bonner NUM V. Cranmer's Protestation at his Consecration IN Dei nomine Amen Coram vobis autentica persona testibus fide dignis hic presentibus Ego Thomas in Cant. Archiepiscopum electus dico allego in hijs Scriptis palam publicè expressè protestor Quod cum juramentum sive juramenta ab Electis in Cant. Archiepiscopos summo Pontifici praestari solita me ante meam Consecrationem aut tempore ejusdem pro forma potius quam pro esse aut re obligatoria ad illam obtinendam oporteat non est nec erit meae Voluntatis aut intentionis per hujusmodi juramentum vel juramenta qualitercúnque verba in ipsis posita sonare videbuntur me obligare ad aliquod ratione eorundem posthac dicend faciend aut attemptand quod erit aut esse videbitur contra legem Dei vel contra illustriss Regem nostrum Angliae aut Remp. hujus sui Regni Angliae legesve aut praerogativas ejusdem Et quod non intendo per hujusmodi juramentum aut juramenta quovis modo me obligare quominus libere loqui consulere consentire valeam in omnibus singulis Reformationem religionis Christianae Gubernationem Ecclesiae Anglicanae aut Praerogativam Coronae ejusdem Reipublicaeve commoditatem quoquomodo concernentibus et ea ubique exequi reformare quae mihi in Ecclesia Anglicana reformanda videbuntur Et secundum hanc interpretationem intellectum hunc non aliter neque alio modo dicta juramenta me praestiturum protestor profiteor Protestorque insuper quodcumque juramentum sit quod meus Procurator summo Pontifici meo nomine antehac praestitit quod non erat intentionis aut Voluntatis meae sibi aliquam dare potestatem cujus Vigore aliquod juramentum meo nomine praestare potuerit contrarium aut repugnans juramento per me praestito aut imposterum praestando praefato Illustriss Angliae Regi Et casu quod aliquid tale contrarium aut repugnans juramentum meo nomine praestitit Protestor quod illud me inscio absque mea authoritate praestitum pro nullo invalido esse volo Quas Protestationes in omnibus clausulis sententijs dictorum juramentorum repetitas reiteratas volo A quibus per aliquod meum factum vel dictum quovismodo recedere non intendo nec recedam Sed eas mihi semper salvas esse volo NUM VI. Cranmer's Oath taken at his Consecration to the Pope EGO Thomas Electus Cantuariensis ab hac hora ut antea fidelis obediens ero B. Petro Sanctae Apostolicae Romanae Ecclesiae Domino meo D. Clementi VII suisque Successoribus canonicè intrantibus Non ero in consilio aut consensu vel facto ut vitam perdant vel membrum seu capiantur mala captione Consilium verò quod mihi credituri sunt per se aut nuncios ad eorum damnum me sciente nemini pandam Papatum Romanum Regalia S. Petri adjutor eis ero ad retinendum defendendum salvo meo ordine contra omnem hominem Legatum Sedis Apostolicae in eundo redeundo honorifice tractabo in suis necessitatibus adjuvabo Vocatus ad Synodum Veniam nisi praepeditus fuero Canonica praepeditione Apostolorum limina Romana Curia existente citra Alpes singulis annis
to the Kinges grace beseching him to send his honorable Lettres under his Seal down to whom he please in my Diocess That they may show and publish that it is not his pleasure that soche bookes should be had or red and also punish soch as saith so I trust before this letter shal come unto you my said L. Abbot hath done so That said Abbot hath the names of some that crakyth in the Kings name that their false opinions shold go forth and wil dy in the quarrel that their ungracious opinions be true and trustyth by Michaelmas day there shal be more that shal beleve of thair opinion than they that beleivyth the contrary If I had known that your Grace had been at London I would have commaunded the said Abbot to have spoken with you But your Grace may send for him when ye please and he shal show you my whole mynd in that matier and how I thought best for the suppression of soch as holdyth these arroneous opinions For if they continue any time I thynk they shal undoe us all The said Abbot departed from me on Monday last and sith that tyme I have had much trouble and business with others in like matters And as they say that whersomever they go they hear say that the Kings pleasure is the N. Testament in English shal go forth and men sholde have it and read it And from that opinion I can no wayes induce them But I had greater authority to punish them then I have Wherfore I beseech your good Lordship to advertise the Kinges grace as I trust the said Abbot hath done before this letter shal come unto your grace that a remedy may be had But now it may be done wel in my Diocess for the Gentlemen and the Communalty be not greatly infected But merchants and soch that hath their abiding not far from the Sea The said Abbot of Hyde can show you of a Curate and well learned in my Diocess that exhorted his Parishioners to believe contrary to the Catholic faith There is a Colledg in Cambridg called Gunnel haule of the foundatâ—â—n of a Bp. of Norwich I hear of no clerk that hath commen out lately of that Colledg but savoryth of the frying pan tho he speak never so holily I beseech your grace to pardon me of my rude and tedious writing to you the zeal and love that I owe to Almighty God cawse me this to do And thus Almighty God long preserve your Grace in good prosperity and health At Hoxne the xiiij th day of May 1530. Your obediensary and dayly Orator NUM XIII Archbishop Cranmer to King Henry Complaining of a Prior in Canterbury that had preached against him PLesyth it your Grace to be advertised That wher as wel by your Graces special letters dated the third day of Iune in the xxvij th year of your Graces most noble reign as also by mouth in Wynchester at Mich. last past your Grace commanded al the Prelates of your Realm that they with al acceleration and expedition shold do their diligence every one in his Diocess fully to persuade your people of the Bp. of Rome his authority that it is but a false and injust Usurpation and that your Grace of veray right and by Gods law is the Supreme Head of this Church of England next immediately unto God I to accomplish your Graces Commandment incontinent upon my return from Wynchester knowing that al the Country about Otford and Knol where my most abode was were sufficiently instructed in those matters already came up into these parts of East Kent onely by preaching to persuade the people in the said two Articles and in mine own church at Canterbury Because I was informed that that Towne in those two points was least perswaded of al my Diocess I preached there two Sermons my self And as it then chaunced Dr. Leighton was present at my first Sermon being then your Graces Visitor Of whom if it so please your Grace you may heare the report what I preached The scope and effect of both my Sermons stood in three things First I declared that the Bp. of Rome was not Gods Vicar in earth as he was taken And although it is so taught these three or four hundred years yet it is done by means of the Bp. of Rome who compelled men by oaths so to teach to the maintenance of his authority contrary to God's word And here I declared by what means and craft the Bp. of R. obtained such usurped authority Seconde Bycause the See of R. was called Sancta Sedes Romana and the Bp. was called Sanctissimus Papa and mennys consciences peradventure could not be quiet to be separated from so holy a place and from Gods most holy Vicar I shewed the people that this thing ought nothing to move theym For it was but a Holines in name For indeed there was no such holines at Rome And hereupon I took occasion to declare his glory and the Pomp of Rome the Covetousnes the unchast living and the maintenance of al vices Thirde I spake against the Bp. of R. his lawes Which he calleth Divinas Lâ—ges and Sacros Canones and makes them equal with Gods Law And here I declared that many of the Laws were veray contrary And some of theym which were good and laudable yet they were not of such holines as he would make theym that is to be taken as Gods laws or to have remission of sins by observing theym And here I sayd that so many of his laws as were good men ought not to contemne or despise them and wilfully to break theym For those that be good your G. hath received as laws of your Realm until such time as others shold be made And therfore as lawes of your realm they must be observed and not contempned And here I spake as wel of the Ceremonies of the Church as of the foresaid lawes that they ought neither to be rejected or despised nor yet to be observed with this opinion that they of themselfes make men holy or that they remit sins For seeing that our sins be remitted by the death of our Savior Christ Jesus I sayd it was too moch injury to Christ to impute the remission of our sins to any Lawes or ceremonies of mans making Nor the Laws and ceremonies of the Church at their first making were ordeined for that intent But as the common lawes of your G's realm be not made to remit sins nor no man doth observe theym for that intent but for a common commodity and for a good order and quietnes to be observed among your Subjects evyn so were the laws and ceremonies first instituted in the Church for a good order and for remembrances of many good things but not for remission of our sinns And though it be good to observe theym wel for that intent they were first ordened yet it is not good but a contumely unto Christ to observe theym with this opinion that they remit
sins or that the veray bare observation of theym in it self is a holines before God Although they be remembrances of many holy things or a disposition unto goodness And evyn so do the lawes of your G's realm dispose men unto justice unto peace and other true and perfect holines Wherfore I did conclude for a general rule that the people ought to observe theym as they do the laws of your G's realm and with no more opinion of holines or remission of sin then the other common Laws of your G's realm Though my two Sermons were long yet I have written briefly unto your Highness the sum of theym both And I was informed by sundry reports that the people were glad that they heard so much as they did until such time as the Prior of the black frears at Canterbury preached a sermon as it was thought and reported clean contrary unto al the three things which I had preached before For as touching the first part which I had preached against the erroneous doctrin of the Bp. of R. his power which error was that by God's Law he should be Gods Vicar here in earth the Prior would not name the Bp. of R. but under color spake generally That the Church of Christ never erred And as touching the second part where I spake of the Vices of the Bishops of R. And there to the Prior said that he would not sclawnder the Bishops of Rome And he said openly to me in a good Audience that he knew no vices by none of the Bishops of Rome And he said also openly that I preached uncharitably whan I said that these many years I had daily prayed unto God that I might see the power of Rome destroyed and that I thanked God that I had now seen it in this realm And yet in my sermon I declared the cause wherfore I so prayed For I said that I perceived the See of Rome work so many things contrary to Gods honor and the wealth of this realm and I saw no hope of amendment so long as that See reigned over us And for this cause onely I had prayed unto God continually that we might be separated from that See and for no private malice or displesure that I had either to the Bp. or See of Rome But this seemed an uncharitable prayer to the Prior that the power of Rome should be destroyed And as for the third part where I preached against the Laws of the Bp. of Rome that they ought not to be taken as Gods Lawes nor to be esteemed so highly as he would have them the Prior craftily leaving out the name of the Bp. of Rome preached that the Lawes of the Church be equal with Gods lawes These things he preached as it is proved both by sufficient witnes and also by his own confession I leave the judgment hereof unto your G. and to your Councel whether this were a defence of the Bp. of Rome or not And I onely according to my bounden duty have reported the truth of the Fact But in mine opinion if he had spoken nothing else yet whosoever saith that the Church never erred maintaineth the Bp. of Rome his power For if that were not erroneous that was taught of his power That he is Christs Vicar in earth and by Gods law Head of al the World spiritual and temporal and that al people must believe that De necessitate Salutis and that whosoever doth any thing against the See of Rome is an heretick and that he hath authority also in Purgatory with such other many false things which were taught in times past to be Articles of our Faith if these things were not erroneous yea and errors in the Faith then must nedis your G's Laws be erroneous that pronounce the Bp. of Rome to be of no more power by Gods Law than other Bishops and theym to be Traitors that defend the contrary This is certain that whosoever saith that the Church never erred must either deny that the church ever taught any such errors of the Bp. of Rome his power and then they speak against that which al the world knoweth and al books written of that matter these three or four hundred years do testifie or else they must say that the said errors be none errors but truths And then it is both treason and heresy At my first Examination of him which was before Christmas he said that he preached not against me nor that I had preached any thing amiss But now he saith that I preached amiss in very many things and that he purposely preached against me And this he reporteth openly By which words I am marvellously sclawndered in these parts And for this cause I beseech your G. that I may not have the judgment of the cause for so moch as he taketh me for a party but that your G. would commit the hearing therof unto my L. Privy Seal or else to associate unto me some other persons at your G's plesure that we may hear the case joyntly together If this man who hath so highly offended your G. and preached against me openly being Ordinary and Metropolitane of this Province and that in soch matters as concerne the misliving and the laws of the Bp. of Rome and that also within mine own church if he I say be not looked upon I leave unto your G's prudence to expend what example this may be unto others with like colour to maintain the Bp. of Rome his authority and also of what estimation I shal be reputed hereafter and what credence shal be given unto my preaching whatsoever I shal say hereafter I beseech your G. to pardon me of my long and tedious writing For I could not otherwise set the matter forth plaine And I most heartily thank your G. for the Stag which your G. sent unto me from Wyndsor Forest. Which if your G. knew for how many causes it was welcome unto me and how many ways it did me service I am sure you would think it moch the better bestowed Thus our Lord have you Highness alwayes in his preservation and governance From Ford the xxvj day of August Your Graces most humble Chaplain and bedisman T. Cantuarien NUM XIV The Archbishop to Mr. Secretary Crumwel concerning his styling himself Primate of al England RIght worshipful in my most harty wise I commend me unto you Most hartily thanking you for that you have signified unto me by my Chaplain Mr. Champion the complaint of the Bp. of Winchester unto the Kings Highnes in two things concerning my Visitation The one is that in my style I am written Totius Angliae Primas to the derogation and prejudice of the Kings high power and authority being Supreme Head of the Church The other is that his Dioces not past five years agone was visited by my Predecessor and must from henceforth pay the tenth part of the Spiritualties according to the Act granted in the last Sessions of Parlament Wherfore he thinketh that his
Diocess should not be charged with my Visitation at this time First as concerning my style Wherein I am named Totius Angliae Primas I suppose that to make his cause good which else indeed were naught he doth mix it with the King's cause As ye know the man lacketh neither learning in the law neither witty invention ne craft to set forth his matters to the best that he might appear not to maintain his own cause but the Kings Against whose Highnes he knoweth right wel that I wil maintain no cause but give place and lay both my cause and my self at my Princes feet But to be plain what I think of the Bp. of Winchester I cannot persuade with my self that he so much tendereth the Kings cause as he doth his own that I should not visit him And that appeareth by the veray time For if he cast no further then the defence of the Kings G's authority or if he intend that at al why moved he not the matier before he received my Monition for my Visitation Which was within four miles of Winchester delivered unto him the xxii day of April last as he came up to the Court. Moreover I do not a little mervayl why he should now find fault rather then he did before when he took the Bp. of Rome as chief Head For though the Bp. of R. was taken for Supreme Head notwithstanding that he had a great number of Primates under him And by having his Primates under him his Supreme authority was not less esteemed but much the more Why then may not the Kings Highnes being Supreme Head have Primates under him without a diminishing but with the augmenting of his said Supreme Authority And of this I doubt not at all but the Bp. of Winchester knoweth as well as any man living that in case this said style or title had been in any poynt impediment or hindrance to the Bp. of Rome's usurped authority it would not have so long been unreformed as it hath been For I doubt not but all the Bushops of England would ever gladly have had the Archbushops both authority and title taken away that they might have been equal together Which well appeareth by the many contentions against the Archbushops for jurisdiction in the Court of Rome Which had be easily brought to pass if the Bushops of R. had thought the Archbushops titles and styles to be an erogation to their Supreme authority Al this notwithstanding if the Bushops of this realm pas no more of their names styles and titles then I do of mine the Kings Highnes shal soon order the matier betwixt us al. And if I saw that my style were against the Kings authority whereunto I am especially sworn I would sue my self unto his G. that I might leave it and so would have done before this time For I pray God never be merciful unto me at the general judgment if I perceive in my heart that I set more by any title name or style that I write then I do by the paring of an apple further then it shal be to the setting forth of Gods word and will Yet I wil not utterly excuse me herein For God must be judge who knoweth the bottome of my heart and so do not I my self But I speak for so much as I do feel in my heart For many evil affections ly lurking there and wil not lightly be espied But yet I would not gladly leave any just thing at the pleasure and suite of the Bp. of Wynchester he being none otherwise affectionate unto me than he is Even at the Beginning of Christs profession Diotrephes desired gerere primatum in Ecclesia as saith S. Iohn in his last Epistle And since he hath had mo successors than al the Apostles had Of whom have come al these glorious titles styles and pomps into the Church But I would that I and al my Brethren the Bushops would leave al our stiles and write the style of our Offices calling our selves Apostolos Iesâ— Christi so that we took not upon us the name vainly but were so even indeed So that we might order our Diocess in such sort that neither paper parchment lead nor wax but the very Christian Conversation of the people might be the letters and seals of our offices As the Corinthians were unto Paul to whom he said Literae nostrae signa Apostolatus nostri vos estis Now for the second Where the Bp. of Winchester alledgeth the Visitation of my Predecessor and the tenth part now to be payd to the King Truth it is that my Predecessor visited the Dioces of Winchester after the decease of my L. Cardinal Wolsey as he did al other Diocesses Sede Vacante But else I think it was not visited by none of my Predecessors this forty years And notwithstanding that he himself not considering their charges at that time charged them with a new Visitation within less then half a year after and that against al right as Dr. Incent hath reported to my Chancellor the Clergy at that time paying to the King half of their benefices in five years Which is the tenth part every year as they payd before and have payd since and shal pay stil for ever by the last Act. But I am very glad that he hath now some compassion of his Diocess although at that time he had very smal when he did visit them the same year that my Predecessor did visit And al other Bushops whose course is to visit this year kept their Visitations where I did visit the last year notwithstanding the tenth part to be paid to the Kings G. Howbeit I do not so in Winchester Dioces For it is now the third year since that Diocess was Visited by any man So that he hath the least cause to complain of any Bushop For it is longer since his Dioces was visited then the other Therfore where he layeth to aggravate the matier the charges of the late Act granted it is no more against me then against al other Bushops that do visit this year nor maketh no more against me this year then it made against me the last year and shal do every year hereafter For if they were true men in accounting and paying the Kings Subsidies they are no more charged by this new Act then they were for the space of ten years past and shal be charged ever hereafter And thus to conclude if my said L. of Winchesters objections should be allowed this year he might by such arguments both disallow al maner Visitations that hath bee done these ten years past and that ever shal be done hereafter Now I pray you good Master Secretary of your advise whether I shal need to write unto the Kings Highnes herein And thus our Lord have you ever in his preservation At Otteford the 12 day of May. Your own ever assured Thomas Cantuar. NUM XV. The Appeal of Stokesly Bishop of London to the King against the Archbishops Visitation Contra
cease from keeping of theym For the Kings own House shal be an example unto al the realm to break his own ordinances Over this whereas your Lp. hath twice written for this poor man William Gronnow the bearer hereof to my L. Deputy of Callis for him to be restored to his room as far as I understand it prevayled nothing at al. For so he can get none answer of my L. Deputy So tha◠the poor man dispaireth that your request shal do him any good If your Lp. would be so good to him as to obtain a bil signed by the Kings Grace to the Treasurers and Controlers of Callis for the time being commanding theym to pay to the said W. Gronnow his accustomed Wages yearly and to none other your Lp. should not only not further trouble my L. Deputy any more but also do a right meritorious deed For if the poor man be put thus from his Living he were but utterly undone Thus my Lord right hartily fare you wel At Ford the xxviij day of August Your Lordships own ever T. Cantuariens NUM XX. Richard Grafton the Printer of the Bible to the Lord Crumwel complaining of some that intended to print the Bible and thereby to spoyl his Impression ✚ 1537. MOST humbly beseeching your Lp. to understand that according as your Commission was by my servant to send you certain Bibles so have I now done desiring your Lp. to accept them as though they were wel done And whereas I writ unto your Lp. for a privy Seal to be a defence unto the enemies of this Bible I understand that your Lps. mind is that I shal not need it But now most gracious Lord forasmuch as this work hath been brought forth to our most great and costly labors and charges Which charges amount above the sum of five hundred pounds and I have caused of these same to be printed to the sum of fifteen hundred books complete Which now by reason that of many this work is highly commended there are that wil and doth go about the printing of the same work again in a lesser letter to the intente that they may sel their little books better cheap then I can sel these great and so to make that I shal sel none at al or else very few to the utter undoing of me your Orator and of all those my Creditors that hath been my Comforters and helpers therin And now this work thus set forth with great study and labors shal such persons moved with a little covetousnes to the undoing of others for their own private wealth take as a thing done to their hands In which half the charges shal not come to them that hath done to your poor Orator And yet shall not they do it as they find it but falsify the text that I dare say look how many sentences are in the Bible even so many faults and errors shal be made therin For their seeking is not to set it out to Gods glory and to the edifying of Christs Congregation but for covetousnes And that may appear by the former Bibles that they have set forth which hath neither good paper letters ink nor correction And even so shal they corrupt this work and wrap it up after their fashions and then may they sel it for nought at their pleasures Yea and to make it more truer then it is therfore Dutch men living within this realm go about the printing of it Which can neither speak good English nor yet write none And they wil be both the Printers and Correctors therof Because of a little covetousnes they wil not bestow twenty or forty pounds to a Learned man to take pains in it to have it wel done It were therfore as your Lp. doth evidently perceive a thing unreasonable to permit or suffer them which now hath no such busines to enter into the labors of them that hath made both sore trouble and unreasonable charges And the truth is this that if it be printed by any other before these be sold which I think shal not be these three years at the least that then am I your poor Orator undone Therfore by your most godly favor if I may obtain the Kings most gracious privilege that none shal print them till these be sold which at the least shall not be this three years your Lordship shal not find me unthankful but that to the uttermost of my power I wil consider it And I dare say that so wil my L of Canterbury with other my most special friends And at the last God wil look upon your merciful heart that considereth the undoing of a poor young man For truly my whole Living lyeth hereupon Which if I may have sale of them not being hindred by any other men it shal be my making and wealth and the contrary is my undoing Therfore most humbly I beseech your Lp. to be my helper here that I may obtain this my request Or else if by no means this privilege may be had as I have no doubt through your help it shal and seeing men are so desirous to be printing of it again to my utter undoing as aforesaid that yet forasmuch as it hath pleased the Kings Highnes to Licence this work to go abroad and that it is the most pure religion that teacheth al true obedience and reproveth al schisms and contentions and the lack of this word of Almighty God is the cause of al blindnes and superstition It may therfore be commanded by your Lp. in the name of our most gracious Prince that every Curate have one of them that they may learn to know God and to instruct their Parishens Yea and that every Abby should have six to be layd in six several places and that the whole Covent and the resorters therunto may have occasion to look on the Lords Law Yea I would have none other but they of the Papistical sort should be compelled to have them And then I know there should be ynow found in my L. of Londons Diocess to spend away a great part of them And so should this be a godly act worthy to be had in remembrance while the world doth stand And I know that a smal Commission wil cause my Lords of Cant. Salisbury and Worseter to cause it to be done through their Diocesses Yea and this should cease the whole schism and contention that is in the realm Which is some calling them of the Old and some of the New Now should we al follow one God one Book and one Learning And this is hurtful to no man but profitable to all men I wil trouble your Lp. no lenger for I am sorry I have troubled you so much But to make an end I desire your most gracious answer by my servant For the sickness is bryme about us or would I wait upon your Lp. And because of coming to your Lp. I have not suffered my servant with me since he came over Thus for your continual preservation I with
the Vilains to rule the Gentlemen and the Servants their Masters If men would suffer this God wil not but wil take vengeance on al them that wil break his order as he did of Dathan and Abiram altho for a time he be a God of much sufferance and hideth his indignation under his mercy That the evil of themselves may repent and se their own folly XIV Your fourteenth Article is this WEE wil that the half part of the Abby lands and Chantry lands in every mans possession howsoever he came by them be given again to two places where two of the chief Abbies were within every County Where such half part shal bee taken out and there to be established a place for devout persons which shal pray for the King and the Common wealth And to the same we wil have al the Almes of the Church box given for these seven years At the beginning you pâ—etended that you meant nothing against the Kings Majesty but now you open your selves plainly to the world that you go about to pluck the Crown from his head and against al justice and equity not only to take from him such lands as be annexed unto his Crown and be parcel of the same but also against al right and reason to take from al other men such lands as they came to by most just title by gift by sale by exchange or otherwise There is no respect nor difference had among you whether they come to them by right or by wrong Be you so blind that you cannot see how justly you proceed to take the sword in your hand against your prince and to dispossesse just Inheritors without any cause Christ would not take upon him to judg the right and title of lands betwixt two brethren and you arrogantly presume not only to judg but unjustly to take away al mens right titles yea even from the King himself And do you not tremble for fear that the Vengeance of God shal fal upon you before you have grace to repent And yet you not contented with this your Rebellion would have your shameful act celebrated with a perpetual memory as it were to boast and glory of your iniquity For in memory of your fact you would have established in every country two places to pray for the King and the Common-wealth Wherby your abominable behaviour at this present may never be forgotten but be remembred unto the worlds end That when the Kings Majesty was in Wars with Scotland and France you under pretence of the Common wealth rebelled and made so great sedition against him within his own realm as never before was heard of And therfore you must be prayed for for ever in every County of this realm It were more fit for you to make humble Supplication upon your knees to the Kings Majesty desiring him not only to forgive you this fault but also that the same may never be put in Chronicle nor writing and that neither shew nor mention may remain to your posterity that ever subjects were so unkind to their Prince and so ungracious toward God that contrary to Gods word they should so use themselves against their Soveraign Lord and King And this I assure you of that if al the whole world should pray for you until Doomsday their prayers should no more avail you then they should avail the Devils in hel if they prayed for them unles you be so penitent and sory for your disobedience that you wil ever hereafter so long as you live study to redubbe and recompence the same with al true and faithful obedience and not only your selves but also procuring al other so much as lyeth in you And so much detesting such uproars and seditions that if you se any man towards any such things you wil to your power resist him and open him unto such Governors and Rulers as may straitway repres the same As for your last Article thanks be to God it needs not to be answered which is this Your last Article is this FOR the particular griefes of our Country we wil have them so ordered as Humfrey Arundel and Henry Bray the Kings Maior of Bodman shal inform the Kings Majesty if they may have salve Conduct in the Kings great Seal to pas und repas with an Herald of Armes Who ever heard such arrogancy in Subjects to require and wil of their Princes that their own particular causes may be ordered neither according to reason nor the lawes of the Realm but according to the Information of two most hainous Traitors Was it ever heard before this time that information should be a judgment altho the Informers were of never so great credit And wil you have suffice the information of two villanous Papistical Traitors You wil deprive the King of his lands pertaining to his Crown and other men of their just possessions and inheritances and judg your own causes as you list your selves And what can you be called then but most wicked judges and most errant Traitors Except only Ignorance or Force may excuse youâ— that either you were constrained by your Capitains against your wills or deceived by blind Priests and other crafty persuaders to ask you wist not what How much then ought you to detest and abhor such men hereafter and to beware of al such like as long as you live and to give most humble and hearty thanks unto God who hath made an end of this Article and brought Arundel and Bray to that they have deserved that is perpetual shame confusion and death Yet I beâ—seech God so to extend his grace unto them that they may dy wel which have lived il Amen NUM XLI The Archbishops notes for an Homily against the Rebellion Sentences of the Scripture against Sedition 1 Cor. 3. CUM sit inter vos zelus contentio nonne carnales estis sicut homines ambulatis Et 1 Cor. 6. Quare non magis injuriam accipitis Quare non magis fraudem patimini Iac. 3. Si zelum amarum habetis contentiones sint in cordibus vestris c. non est ista Sapientia desursum descendens a Patre Luminum sed terrena animalis Diabolica Ubi enim zelus contentio ibi inconstantia omne opus malum c. Et Cap. 4. Unde bella lites inter vos Nonne ex concupiscentijs vestris quae m ilitant in membris vestris How God hath plagued Sedition in time past Num. 18. Dathan and Abiram for ther sedition against Moses and Aaron did miserably perish by Gods just judgment the earth opening and swallowing them down quick 2 Reg. 15. 18. Absalom moving Sedition against David did miserably perish likewise 2 Reg. 20. Seba for his Sedition against David lost his head 3 Reg. 1. 2. Adonias also for his Sedition against Solomon was slain Acts 8. Iudas and Theudas for their Sedition were justly slain Acts 21. An Egyptian likewise which moved the people of Israel to Sedition received that he
rowe Now God sped thee wel And I wil no more mell The Answer to the Enemy A rope is a fytt reward for such rysshe repers As have strowed this Church ageinst the Kings prechers THE Pulpits are now replenished with them that prech the truthe And Popish traitors banished which seemed to you great ruthe But yf you and the Freers were clean owt of this land This realme to the last years ful firme and sure should stand When such as with you trust shal al ly in the dust And ryse thereout agayne unto perpetual payne With them that laugh and scorne eyther at hye or lowe Had better not been borne such evil seeds to sowe Yee pray God spede them wel and ye wil no more mell Forsothe ye have said wel But if ye may be knowen Ye are like for to be taken and quartered like a baken And of your frends forsaken for these sedis ye have sowen Like as the last yere Traitors were knowen By standing in the felds with weapon and swordes So this year their treason is sowen In traiterous bills and railing words Some of their carcases standith on the gates And their heads most fyttely on London bridge Therefore ye Traytors beware your pates For yf ye be founde the same way must ye tridge God save the Kings Majestie long for to reigne To suppresse al rebells and truthe to maynteyne An old Song of John Nobody I. IN December when the dayes draw to be be short After November when the nights wax noysome and Long As I past by a place privily at a port I saw one sit by himself making a song His last talk of trifles who told with his tongue That few were fast i' th' faith I feyned that freake Whether he wanted wit or some had done him wrong He said he was little Iohn Nobody that durst not speak II. Iohn Nobody quoth I What news thou soon note and tell What maner men thou mean that are so mad He said These gay gallants that wil construe the gospel As Solomon the sage with semblance ful sad To discus divinity they nought adread More meet it were for them to milk kye at a fleyke Thou lyest quoth I thou Losel like a leud lad He said he was little Iohn Nobody that durst not speak III. It s meet for every man on this matter to talk And the glorious gospel ghostly to have in mind It is sothe said that Sect but much unseemly scalk As boyes babble in books that in Scripture are blind Yet to their fancy soon a cause wil find As to live in lust in lechery to leyke Such Caitives count to be come of Cains kind But that I little Iohn Nobody durst not speak IV. For our Reverend Father hath set forth an order Our service to be said in our Seignours tongue As Solomon the sage set forth the Scripture Our suffrages and service with many a sweet song With Homilies and godly books us among That no stiff stubborn stomacks we should freyke But wretches nere worse to do poor men wrong But that I little Iohn Nobody dare not speak V. For Bribery was never so great since born was our Lord And Whoredom was never les hated sith Christ harrowed Hel And poor men are so sore punished commonly through the world Thus would it grieve any one that good is to hear tel For al the homilies and good books yet their hearts be so quel That if a man do amiss with mischefe they wil him wreake The fashion of these new fellows it is so vile and fell But that I little Iohn Nobody dare not speake VI. Thus to live after their lust that life would they have And in letchery to lyke al their long life For al the preaching of Paul yet many a proud knave Wil move mischiefe in their mind both to maid and wife To bring them in advoutry or else they wil strife And in brawling about baudery Gods Commandments break But of these frantic il fellowes few of them do thrife Though I little Iohn Nobody dare not speak VII If thou company with them they wil currishly carp and not care According to their foolish fantacy but fast wil they naught Prayer with them is but prating Therefore they it forbear Both Almes deeds and holiness they hate it in their thought Therefore pray we to that Prince that with his bloud us bought That he wil mend that is amiss For many a man ful freyke Is sorry for these Sects though they say little or nought And that I little Iohn Nobody dare not once speake VIII Thus in no place this Nobody in no time I met Where no man then nought was nor nothing did appear Though the sound of a Synagogue for sorrow I swett That Hercules through the eccho did cause me to hear Then I drew me down into a dale wheras the dumb deer Did shiver for a shower but I shunted from a freyke For I would no wight in this world wist who I were But little Iohn Nobody that dare not once speake NUM L. John a Lasco's Letter from Embden signifying the dangerous condition they were in and the Persecutions they expected Clarissimo viro Domino Sicilio a consilijs libellis sâ—pplicibus Illustrissimi Domini Protectoris Domino fratri meo observandissimo S. Cum mihi ad alios scribendum istuc esset facere non potui quin ad te quoque scriberem Vir Clarissime memor videlicet illius quòd te mihi istic delegerim cui mea omnia nota prae alijs esse velim Volui itaque tibi de meo huc reditu significare nempe me felicissimo itinere gratia Domino usum me ex Anglia in Frisiam Orientalem intra triduum trajecisse Navis praesectum a Domino Protectore nobis additum habebamus virum optimum fidelissimum qui Dominum Comitem Bremam usque est sequutus ut certi aliquid opinor ab illo vobis adferat Ego quae scio ad Dominum Cantuariensem omnia perscripsi ut Illustriâ—â—imo Domino Protectori exponat quae tibi quoque incognita non fore puto Scripturus alioqui eadem ad te omnia si non id parum necessarium adeoque supervacaneum esse judicarem Nos hic crucem certissimam expectamus ad eam perferendam mutuo nos in Domino cohortamur cum invocatione nominis sancti sui ut per patientiam fidem ferendo superemus omnia quaeâ—únque in nos permittere ille volet ad nominis sui gloriam nostri probationem Certi illum curam nostri habere ita potentem esse ut â—mnes omnium hostium phalanges quicunque sint tandem illi unico oris sui verbo sternat momento uno rursum ita bonâ—m ut ne pilum quidem temerè e nostro capite detrahi patiatur etiamsi nos totus mundus impetere conetur Támque nobis malè velle non possit unquam quà m mater infanti
Instrument of the Councel swearing and subscribing to the Succession as limited by the King EDWARD WEE whose Names be underwritten having heretofore manitimes heard the Kings Majesty our most gracious Sovereign Lords earnest desire and express Commandment touching the Limitation of the Succession in the Imperial Crown of this Realm and others his Majesties Realmes and Dominions and having seen his Majesties own Devise touching the said Succession first wholly written with his most Gracious hand and after Copied out in his Majesties presence by his most high Commandment and Confirmed with the Subscription of his Majesties own Hand and by his Highnes delivered to certain Judges and other learned men to be written in sul Order DO by his Majesties special and absolute Commandment eftsoons given us aggree and by these Presents signed with our hands and sealed with our Seales promise by our Oaths and Honors to observe fully perform and keep al and every Article Branch and Matter contained in the said Writing delivered to the Judges and others and subscribed with his Majesties hand in six several places and al such other matters as his Majesty by his Last Wil shal appoint declare or command touching or concerning the Limitation of the Succession of his said Imperial Crown And WEE do further promise by his Majesties said Commandment never to vary or swarve during our lives from his said Limitation of his Succession But the same shal to the uttermost of our powers Defend and Maintaine And if any of us or any other shal at any time hereafter which God forbid vary from this Aggrement or any part therof We and Every of us do assent to â—ake use and repute him for a Breaker of the common Concord Peace and Unity of this Realm and to do our utmost to se him or them so varying or swerving punished with most sharp punishment according to their deserts T. Cant. T. Ely Wynchester Northumberland I. Bedford I. Suffolk W. Northampt. F. Shrewsbury F. Huntyngdon PEMBROKE E. Clynton T. Darcy G. Cobham T. Cheyne R. Ryche Iohn Gate William Petres Ioan Cheek W. Cecyll Edward Mountagu Iohn Bakere Edward Gryffyn Iohn Lucas Iohn Gosnald These are the Names with which this Instrument is signed but there be no Seals The Kings own Writing directing the Succession My Devise for the Succession FOR lack of issue for my Body to the L. Fraunceses heir Masles if she have any such issue before my Death To the Lady Iane and her Heir Masles To the Lady Katerins Heir Masles To the Lady Maryes heir Masles To the Heires Masles of the Daughters which she shal have hereafter Then to the Lady Margarets heires Masles For lack of such issue to the Heire Masles of the Lady Ianes Daughters To the heir masles of the Lady Katerins Daughters and so forth til you come to the Lady Margarets daughters heires masles If after my Death their Masle be entred into eighteen years old then he to have the whole Rule and Governance therof But if he be under 18 then his Mother to be Governess til he enter 18 years old But to do nothing without the Advice and Aggrement of Six Parcel of a Councel to be pointed by my last Wil to the number of Twenty If their Mother dy before their Entry into Eighteen the Realm to be governed by the Councel Provided that after he be 14 years al great matters of Importance be opened to him NUM LXIX A Letter of Q. Jane's Councel to the Lord Rich L. Lieutenant of the County of Essex AFter our right hartie commendations to your Lp. Although the matter conteined in your letters of therle of Oxfords departing to the Ladi Mari be grevous unto us for divers respects yet we must neades give your Lp. our hartie thankes for your redi advertisement therof Requiring your Lp. nevertheless like a Noble man to remain in that promise and steedfastnes to our Sovereign Lady Queen Ianes Service as ye shal find us redi and firm with al our force to the same Which neither with honor nor with saftie nor yet with duty we mai now forsaake From the Toure of London the xix th of Iulie 1553. Your L. assured loving freends T. Cant. T. Ely Canc. I. Suffolk Pembroke William Paget Winchester Arundel T. Darcy T. Cheyne W. Petre S. Io. Bakere I. Bedford F. Shrewsbury Rychard Cotton Io. Cheek Robert Bowes NUM LXX Queen Jane to Sir John Bridges and Sir Nicolas Poyntz to raise forces against a rising in Bucks IANE the Queen TRusty and Welbeloved we grete you wel Because we doubt not but this our most lawful possession of the Crown with the free consent of the Nobility of our realm and other the States of the same is both plainly known and accepted of you as our most loving subjects Therfore we do not reiterate the same but now most earnestly wil and require and by authority hereof warrant you to assemble muster and levy al the power that you can possible make either of your servants Tenants officers or freends as wel horsemen as footmen reserving to our trusty and right wel beloved Cousins the Erles of Arundel and Penbroke their tenants servants and officers and with the same to repair with al possible speed towards Buckinghamshire for the repression and subduing of certain tumults and rebellions moved there against us and our Crown by certain seditious men For the râ—pression wherof we have given ordre to divers others our good subjects and gentlemen of such degree as you are to repair in like maner to the â—ame parties So as we nothing doubt but upon the access of such our loving subjects as be appointed for that purpose to the place where this Seditious people yet remaine the same shal eyther lack harts to abyde in their malicious purpose or ells receive such punishment and execution as they deserve seking the destruction of their native country and the subversion of al men in their degrees by rebellion of the base multitude Whose rage being stirred as of late years hath been seen must needs be the confusion of thole common weale Wherfore our special trust is in your courage wisdome and fidelities in this matter to advaunce your self both with power and speed to this enterprise in such sort as by our Nobility and Councel shal be also prescribed unto you And for the sustentation of your charges in this behalf our said Councel by our Commandment do furthwith give order to your satisfaction as by their letters also shal appear unto you And besides that we do assure you of our special consideration of this your service to us our Crowne and expresly to the preservation of this our Realm and commonweale Yeven under our signet at our Toure of London the xviij day of Iuly the first year of our reigne NUM LXXI The Councellors of Q. Jane their letter to the Lady Mary acknowledging her Queen OUR bownden duties most humbly remembred to your most excellent
perceive the Emperors Majestyes Counsil hath ever been that her G. in matters of religion and in the renouncing the title of the Supremacy should procede with great moderation and not to be hasty therin until other matters temporal were better settled for this cause beside that what I could do by letters if it were possible as much as was in me to remove his Majesty from the opinion that dilation in this matter would be profitable to her Highnes or the realm as she may perceive by the copy of my letters written to the Emperor sent by Hâ—rry Pyninge I have likewise persuaded his Majesties Confessor whom I found here a man of great sanctity and learning that for the love he beareth towards his Majesty touching his souls wealth and honor of the world beside and affection to her G. that he would personally repair himself to his Majesty and by al means possible attempt to remove this worldly fear And herein I have given him Instructions wherof you have the Copy with you that you may shew the same to her Highnes The third Remedy is that I attempt now by sending you to her Majesty that she may be wel informed of the peril which in mine opinion is now more great then when the Duke of Northumberland did set against her And the same must be overcome with the means that her G then had the victory Which was by putting her hope and trust wholy in God and in the justice of her cause casting away al fear worldly Which doing her Highnes may be sure her cause pertaining to the honor of God and wealth of his Church for the which his Son dyed for that is Lord of al she shal find les difficulty and much readier help then she can now imagine And this now shal be sufficient you inform her G. touching the matter wherin it hath pleased her to ask my advise and counsil Touching the other matter wherin her Highnes seemeth to be offended for the relation made openly in the Consistory by Master Francesco Commendone of those things which her Majesty had told him in secret Of this you may say her G. being enformed of the truth hath more cause to accept that which was done most gratefully then in ony part to be offended therewith And the truth is this he did not open any thing that was told him in secret nor did not make his relation as I thought my self he had done at the beginning as of things heard of her G.'s mouth but that he had heard of other Catholics and devout persons that knew her G.'s mind Which was in general of the devout mind that her Majesty bore to God and the Church and of that particular point that she would have had shewed only the Popes Holines nothing was spoken And al this done to confirm the Cardinals minds touching the approbation of that the Pope had done in making so suddenly his Legate afore any information was given what mind her G. bore to the obedience of the Church Which some did not approve at the first And after this relation made by Master Francesco that had been in England al were wel satisfied So that al turned to the honor of her M. and to corroborate al that was done to her service And that she may the surelier be advertised how all things passed in this matter I have caused to be copied one part of a letter which the Popes Holines wrote unto me upon this Act and the same you may shew unto her Grace And because I do know what great service it might be to her G. to be truly informed in al parts that pertaineth to the return of true obedience to the Church both touching the time and maner and the consequence therof and to discern the crafts and wiles that the enemy of mankind ever useth to make it seem true obedience when it is not wherupon dependeth the whole ground of the maintenance of the State that God hath given her G. And how few there be in the realm al being maculate therin that can or wil indeavour themself to explicate the peril and shew the remedy therfore considering that I in person cannot come so soon to give her Highnes information as I know the necessity of the matters to be concluded doth require you may shew her M. that among those Gentlemen of my company whom I have sent afore to Flaunders there to remain there be two of whom if it wil please the same to take information of and as her G. findeth it to the honor of God and wealth of the realm in this first setling of the obedience of the church so to execute the same I would think that her G. should be well satisfied and satisfy al good men withal these being men of that quality that ye know which have godly prudence and humane joyned both together Of the which one I know by long experience that hath bin many years so conversant with me as no man more familiar Of whom I have ever judged my self to have that treasure that few great Princes hath the like And of the other to have as great pleasure for the time he is content to serve me But whether her Highnes wil serve her self to be informed of them in this first settling of her State this is in her G.'s pleasure This only I would desire her M. willing the same if they should come that they might come to be known to come from me for the causes that I have shewed you Further your Commission here be to expound to her Highnes my whole mind and sentence touching the demand it pleased her G. to make in her gracious Letters dated the xxviij of Ianuary concerning those persons whom for the good opinion her G. had of their Vertue Learning and Catholic good mind she intended to make Bps how that they may be provided for without derogation to the authority of the See Apostolic her G. not intending further to extend the powers of the Crown regal then it was customable in use afore the Schism entered In this poynt wherin her G. demaundeth mine answer you shal make the same conformable to that which by long and often conference with me ye know to be mine utter sentence Wherin yee need not to have any further explication by writing Besides this touching the two Acts of Parlament one of the legitimation of the Matrimony betwixt the most gracious Queen her Mother and the King her Father the other of the Sacraments to be used under the maner that they were used the last year of K. Henry VIII her G.'s father Which both it pleased her M. of her goodnes to send unto me for my satisfaction of mind to know how they were passed by consent of the Parlament you may shew her G. that these two perfectly inacted and concluded be those in truth that of al Acts that could be made to my comfort none could bring me more satisfaction Wherof the only cause is that I
our greatest cros may be to be absent from him and strangers from our home and that we may godly contend more and more to please him Amen c. As for your parts in that it is commonly thought your staff standeth next the door â—ee have the more cause to rejoyce and be glad as they which shal come to their fellowes under the Altar To the which Society God with you bring me also in his mercy when it shall be his good plesure I have received many good things from you my good Lord Master and dear Father N. Ridley Fruits I mean of your good labours Al which I send unto you again by this bringer Augustin Benher one thing except which he can tell I do keep upon your further plesure to be known therin And herewithal I send unto you a little treatise which I have made that you might peruse the same and not only you but also ye my other most dear and reverend Fathers in the Lord for ever to give your Approbation as ye may think good Al the prisoners here about in maner have seen it and read it and as therin they aggre with me nay rather with the truth so they are ready and wil be to signify it as they shal se you give them example The matter may be thought not so necessary as I seem to make it But yet if ye knew the great evil that is like hereafter to come to the posterity by these men as partly this bringer can signify unto you Surely then could ye not but be most willing to put hereto your helping hands The which thing that I might the more occasion you to perceive I have sent you here a writing of Harry Harts own hand Wherby ye may see how Christs glory and grace is like to loose much light if your sheep quondam be not something holpen by them that love God and are able to prove that al good is to be attributed only and wholly to Gods grace and mercy in Christ without other respects of worthines then Christs merits The effects of salvation they so mingle and confound with the cause that if it be not seen to more hurt will come by them than ever came by the Papists in as much as their life commendeth them to the world more then the Papists God is my witnes that I write not this but because I would Gods glory and the good of his peopâ—e In Free wil they are plain Papists yea Pelagians And ye know that Modicum fermenti totam Massam corrumpit They utterly contemn al learning But hereof shal this bringer show you more As to the chief captains therefore of Christs church here I complain of it unto you as truly I must do of you even unto God in the last day if ye wil not as ye can help something Vt veritas doctrinae maneat apud posteros in this behalf as ye have done on the behalf of matters expugned by the Papists God for his mercy in Christ guide you Most dearly beloved Fathers with his holy Spirit here and in al other things as most may make to his glory and the commodity of the Church Amen Al here God therfore be praised prepare themselves willingly to pledg our Captain Christ even when he wil and how he wil. By your good prayers we shal al fare the better and therefore we al pray you to cry to God for us as we God willing do and wil remember you My brethren here with me have thought it their duty to signify this need to be no less then I make it to prevent the plantations which may take root by these men Yours in the Lord Robert Ferrar Rowland Taylor Iohn Bradford Iohn Philpot. NUM LXXXIV The Prisoners for the Gospel their Declaration concerning K. Edward his Reformation To the King and Queens most excellent Majesties with their most honorable high court of Parlament WE poor Prisoners for Christs religion require your Honours in our dear Saviour Christs name earnestly now to repent for that you have consented of late to the unplaceing of so many godly lawes set furth touching the true religion of Christ before by two most Noble Kings being Father and brother to the Queens Highnes and aggreed upon by al your consents not without your great and many deliberations free and open disputations costs and paines taking in that behalf neither without great Consultations and conclusions had by the greatest learned men in the realm at Windsor Cambridg and Oxford neither without the most willing consent and allowing of the same by the whole Realm throughly So that there was not one Parish in al England that ever desired again to have the Romish Superstitions and vaine Service which is now by the Popish proud covetous clergy placed again in contempt not only of God al Heaven and al the holy ghostes lessons in the blessed Bible but also against the honors of the said two most noble Kings against your own Country fore aggreements and against al the godly consciences within this realm of England and elsewhere By reason wherof Gods great plagues must needs follow and great unquietnes of consciences besides al other persecutions and vexations of bodies and goods must needs ensue Moreover we certify your honours that since your said unplaceing of Christs true religion and true service and placing in the room therof Antichristâ— Romish Superstition heresy and idolatry al the true preachers have been removed and punished and that with such open robbery and cruelty as in Turky was never used either to their own Countrimen or to their mortal enemies This therfore our humble suit is now to your honourable estates to desire the same for al the mercies sake of our dear and only Savior Iesus Christ and for the duty you owe to your native Country and to your own souls earnestly to consider from what light to what darknes this realm is now brought and that in the weightiest chief and principal matter of Salvation of al our souls and bodies everlasting and for ever more And even so we desire you at this your assembly to seek some effectual reformation for the afore written most horrible deformation in this church of England And touching your selves we desire you in like maner that we may be called before your Honors and if we be not able both to prove and approve by the Catholic and Canonical rules of Christs true religion the church Homilies and Service set furth in the most innocent K. Edwards days and also to disallow and reprove by the same authorities the Service now set furth since his departing then we offer our bodies either to be immediately burned or else to suffer whatsoever other painful and shameful death that it shal please the King and Queens Majesties to appoint And we think this trial and probation may be now best either in the plain English tongue by Writing or otherwise by disputation in the same tongue Our Lord for his great mercy sake
their Ministration This is not universally true All Secular Married Clergy-men who desired it were restored after such Penance undergone unless some other great Demerit intervened But no Regulars could obtain that favour Marriage in them being accounted Apostacy from their Vow and Order Page 331. line 12. The said Poinet late Bishop of Winchester but now an Exile very learnedly answered this Book of Dr. Martin against Priests Marriage in two several Treatises The second Treatise he lived not to finish but the Copy falling into the hands of Matthew Parker Archbishop of Canterbury he published it in the beginning of Queen Elizabeth's Reign with very large and excellent Additions of his own The same Book is ascribed to Poinet infra lin 39. with some doubt pag. 330. med page 53 69 c. This Book was most certainly none of Poinet's for the Author of it saith of himself more than once that he was a Layman had designed indeed to enter into Holy Orders but was prevented by the Death of K. Edward and the Iniquity of the Times succeeding to it He lived in or about either Norwich or Lincoln and died before the end of Q. Mary's Reign Archbishop Parker in Publishing it did not adjoin his own Additions to all the Printed Copies but only to a few of them Page 369. line 3. c. Latimer 's Character is best taken from them who best knew him and lived in his time One of these Thomas Becon thus speaks of him while he was yet alive in the beginning of K. Edward Latimer was very famous for the Sincerity and Goodness of his Evangelical Doctrine which since the beginning of his Preaching had in all points been so conformable to the teaching of Christ and his Apostles His Fame began to grow apace while he was at Cambridge some years before 1530. doing abundance of good there among the Studentâ— by his Sermons Before them he did by invincible Arguments c. prove That the Holy Screptures ought to be read in the English Tongue of all Christen People whether they were Priests or Laymen c. Good Mr. Becon did herein either want true information or hath imposed upon his Readers Latimer was so far from maintaining this Doctrine ever since the beginning of his Preaching that he was one of those Divines who being deputed by the University of Cambridge joined with Archbishop Warham and other Bishops and Divines in Condemning all English Translations of the Scripture and solemnly subscribed this Determination The Publication of the H. Scripture in the Vulgar Tongue is not necessary to Christians and the King's Majesty and the Bishops do well in forbidding to the people the common use of the H. Scripture in the English Tongue This was done in the year 1530. Page 383. line 16. ab imo The Queen would not alter her Determination to have Archbishop Cranmer burnt by the Instigation as I suppose of Pole the Legate I would not have remittted you to so obscure an Author as Anthony Harmer if your self had not mentioned him in your Preface He hath offered some Reasons in his Specimen page 144. not altogether contemptible to clear Cardinal Pole from this Imputation I am so charitable as to be willing at least to assent to his Reasons your self can better judge of the Validity of them Page 398. line 9. Among Archbishop Cranmer's Writings are reckoned from Bale Letters to Learned Men one Book and thereto is added This I cannot hear any tidings of The Archbishop's Letters to Learned men never were either by himself or others collected into one or more Books especially at that time But it was Bale's foolish way to account to every great man whom he hath placed in his Rhapsody of Writers One Book of Epistles Epist. Dedicat. page 3. The Judgment of Archbishop Arundel was for the Translation of the Scriptures into the Vulgar Tongue and for the Laity's use thereof For he preaching the Funeral Sermon of Queen Anne in 1392. commended her particularly for her Study of the Holy Scriptures as I find by an Ancient MS. Fragment formerly belonging to the Church of Worcester c. This MS. Fragment hath been often published And Arundel when he preached this Sermon was not Archbishop of Canterbury nor one of Cranmer's Predecessors as is here supposed But after all the Judgment of Archbishop Arundel in this Case is better declared by an Authentick Decree than by a Rhetorical Passage in a Sermon wherein he was obliged to commend the Deceased Queen He was so far then from favouring the Translation of the Scriptures into the Vulgar Tongue or the use of them by the Laity that in the year 1408 he made this famous Decree in the Synod of Oxford Periculosa res est c. It is a dangerous thing to translate the H. Scripture We decree therefore and ordain That henceforth no man by his own authority translate any Book of H. Scripture into the English or any other Tongue by way of Book Libel or Treatise and that no such Book or Translation be read by any one upon pain of the higher Excommunication I might also observe to you That the Case of Archbishop Chichely which you had mentioned immediately before this is mistaken he doing therein nothing more than what was usual as also the Case of Archbishop Islip who decreed in the Case by you mentioned nothing but what was consonant to the Rules of Canon Law and the Papal Definitions it being a Rule in both that Simplex Votum impedit matrimonium contrahendum sed non dirimit contractum But I fear I have been too long already I will only put you farther in mind that when in the following Pages you compare the Archbishops of Canterbury preceding to and succeeding the Reformation and accuse the former to have minded chiefly great Worldly Pomp and Appearance but praise the latter for regarding littlâ— or nothing the vain shews of exterior Grandeur and Glory the Comparison is not altogether just For Parker and Whitgift whom you chuse to instance in lived in as great State Pomp and Magnificence and were attended with as large a Retinue as most of their Predecessors And that in your Preface page 7. instead of an Augustine Monk of Canterbury should be substituted a Monk of St. Augustines in Canterbury And lastly That Page 11. Edward Howes should if I mistake not be changed into Edmund Howes These Sir are the only Errors which I have discovered in your History That the Observation of them may in any measure contribute to the Illustration of your Work as I doubt not but your Work will highly contribute to the Information of the Curious and the Iustification of our Reformation is the Hearty Desire of SIR Your most Humble Servant HEN. WHARTON Novemb. 13. 1693. A TABLE OF THE Letters Instruments Records c. Made use of in this History and contained in the Appendix to the Memorials of Archbishop CRANMER With the NUMBER and PAGE under which each may be found and the
Act Anno 1550. LX. 152 Ibid. Peter Martyr to Bucer Concerning their Review of the Book of Common Prayâ—r LXI 154 MSS. SirW H The Archbishops Letter to procure Wolf the Printer a licence to publish his â—ook LXII 156 Foxij MSS. Articles whereunto William Phelps Pastor and Curate of Ciciter upon good advisement and deliberation after better knowledg given by Gods grace hath subscribed LXIII Ibid. MSS. SirW H The Archbishop to the Lords of the Councel concerning the Book of Articles of Religion LXIV 158 Ibid. The Archbishop nominates certain Persons for an Irish Archbishoprick LXV 159 Ibid. The Archbishop to Sir Will. Cecyl that Mr. Turner intended for the Archbishopric of Armagh was come up to Court LXVI 160 Ibid. The Archbishop to the same Wherin he justifies himself and the rest of the Bishops aâ—ainst the charge of Covetousness LXVII 161 Ibid. Purchases made by the Archbishop Extracted out of K. Edwards Book of Sales LXVIII 162 MSS. D. Wil. Petyt An Instrument of the Council Swearing and subscribing to the Succession as limited by the King LXVIII 163 Ibid. The Kings own Writing directing the Succession  164 MSS. SirW H A Letter of Q. Janes Council to the L. Rich L. Lieutenant of the County of Essex LXIX 164 Foxij MSS. Q. Jane to Sir John Bridges and Sir Nicolas Poyntz to raise forces against a Rising in Bucks LXX 165 Number Page Place The Counsillors of Q. Jane their Letter to the Lady Mary acknowledging her Queen LXXI 166 MSS. Sir W.H. The Archbishop to Mrs. Wilkinson persuading her to flee LXXII Ibid. Foxes Acts. The Words and Sayings of John Duke of Northumberland spoken by him unto the people at the Tower Hil of London on Tuesday in the forenoon being 22th of August immediately before his Death LXXIII 167 Titus B. 2. Archbishop Cranmers Letter to the Queen suing for his Pardon in the Lady Janes business LXXIV 169 Letters of the Mâ—rt Cardinal Poles Instructions for his Messenger to Queen Mary LXXV 170 Titus B. 2. The Form of the Restitution of a married Priest LXXV †179 Regist. Eccl. Christ. Cant. John Foxes Letter to the Parlament against reviving the Act of the Six Articles LXXVI 181 Foxij MSS. An Instrument of the Vniversity of Cambridg appointing certain of their Members to repair to Oxford to dispute with Cranmer Ridley and Latimer there LXXVII 182 Ibid. The Vniversity of Cambridge to that of Oxford relating to the former matter LXXVIII 184 Ibid. Cranmers Letter to the Queens Council after his Disputation at Oxon. LXXIX 186 Foxes Acts. The Lord Legates Commission to the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury Deputing them to Absolve and Dispense with the Clergy in his stead and Absolve the Laity LXXX 187 Registr Eccl. Cant. The Lord Legates Instructions to the Bishops in the performing of his Orders about Absolving their Clergy and Laity LXXXI 190 Ibid. An Italian to his Friend concerning Cardinal Pole LXXXII 192 Balci Cent. Bradford to Cranmer Ridley and Latimer concerning the Freewillers about 1554. LXXXIII 195 Martyrs Letters The Prisoners for the Gospel their Declaration concerning K Edward his Reformation LXXXIV 196 Foxij MSS. John Fox to the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Q. Maries time relating to the Persecution LXXXV 197 Ibid. Dr. Ridley late Biâ—hop of London to West formerly his Steward who had complied with the Romish Religion LXXXVI 200 Ibid. John Hopton Bishop of Norwich to the Earl of Sussex giving account of the joy conceived and Te Deum sung for the News of the Queens being brought to bed of a Noble Prince LXXXVII 203 Tit. B. 2. A Proposition in the Convocation against Residence With reasons for the said Propositions and Remedies against Non-Residence LXXXVIII 204 C. C. C. C. MSS. Pole Cardinal Legate to Archbishop Cranmer in answer to the Letter he had sent to the Queen LXXXIX 206 Foxij MSS. Place  Number Page MSS Sir W H Archbishop Parker to the Secretary desiring the Councels Letters in order to his discovering certain Writings of Archbishop Cranmer XC 217 Ibid. Dr. William Mouse Master of Trinity Hal in Cambridg his Letter of Thanks to Secretary Cecyl XCI 218 Ibid. Justus Jonas to Secretary Cecyl Concerning the Miseries of Germany occasioned by the Interim and that he might receive the Kings intended Muniâ—icence XCII 2â—9 Ibid. Miles Wilson to Secretary Cecyl lamenting the Spoiles of Schools Benefices and Hospitals To which are added his Arguments against this Sacrilege XCIII 220 Ibid. Peter Martyr to James Haddon To procure a Licence from the Court for one of his Auditâ—rs named Hugh Kirk of Magdalen College Oxon to preach XCIV 227 Ibid. Peter Martyr to Secretary Cecyl That one who officiated in Dr. Westons place might receive the Stipend detained from him XCV 228 Ibid. John Sleidan to Secretary Cecyl Advices of the State of Affairs in Germany XCVI 229 Ibid. Sleidan to the same More Advices from Germany Desires a Patent for his Stipend granted him by K. Edward VI. XCVII 230 Ibid. Sleidan to the same Intelligences concerning the Motions of the Emperor and the State of the Protestant Princes XCVIII 231 Ibid. Sleidan to the same Advices of the State of the Empire XCIX 232 Ibid. Sleidan to Sir John Cheke and Sir William Cecyl Concerning his Commentaries which he had sent to K. Edward Desires them to send him an exact Information of the Business between K. Henry and Pope Clement His resolution of continuing his Commentaries and of Writing the History of the Council of Trent C. 234 Ibid. Sleidan to Sir William Cecyl Concerning the Affairs of Germany and particularly of the Council of Trent CI. 236 Ibid. â—artin Bucer to the Secretary for the speeding of Sleidans business CII 238 Ibid. Ralph Morice the Archbishops Secretary his supplication to Q. Elizabeth for Prior Wilbore's Pension lately deceased CIII 239  A Prologue or Preface made by Thomas Cranmer late Archbishop of Canterbury to the Holy Bible CIV 241 Number Page Place Bucer and other Learned Strangers from Lambeth to Cecyl To prefer the Petition of some poor French Protestants to the Protector CV 250 MSS. Sir W.H. The Archbishop to the Secretary Concerning a French man that desired a Patent to translate the Common prayer into French and print it CVI. Ibid. Ibid. The Archbishop to the same Mention of Letters sent by the Archbishop to the Duke of Northumberland Excusing his not proceding in a Commission His Reflexion upon the News CVII 251 Ibid. The Archbishop to the same Signifying his Desire to have the good Wil of the Lord Warden his Neighbour CVIII 252 Ibid. The Archbishop to the same Desiring Cecyl to enform him of the Cause of Chekes Indictment CIX Ibid. Ibid. The End of the Table of Letters c. BOOKS Printed for RICHARD CHISWELL CEnsura Celebriorum Authorum sive Tractatus in quo Varia Virorum Doctorum de Claris. Cujusque Seculi Scriptoribus Iudicia Traduntur Unde Facilimo Negotio Lector Dignoscere qucat quid in singulis quibusque
MS. Life of Cranmer Grows dear to the King and his Court. Liâ—e of Henr. 8. p. 375. An. 1530. Pole's Book against the King's Dissolving his Marriage Cranmer perâ—â—ses it His account of it Cranmer's Censure thereof Num. 1. He is employed in Ambassies To the Pope Offers him a Dispute in Favour of the King's Cause Hist. Refor P. 1. p. 89. To the Emperor Life of Cran. inter Foxii MSS. An. 1531. Hist. Luther Per Seckendorf Cornelius Agrippa gained by Cranmer to the King's Cause Becomes acquainted with Osiander Multa graviter multa sapienter â—c planâ— divinitus dâ— Christiana doctrina ac vera religione disputares In Ep. Dedicat. ante Harmon Evangel And marries his Kinswoman An. 1532. Treats with the Emperor about the Contract of Traffick And about sending Suplies against thâ— Turk Sends the King the News in those Parts And the Proclamation for a General Council Sleid. Comment And the Tax of the States of the Empire N o II. He goes in an Embassy to the Duke of Saxony and other Protestant Princes Hist. Lutheranism per Seckendors Seckendorf ubâ— supra Made Arch-Bishop of Canterbury His Dignities before he was Arch-Bishop Arch-Bishop Warham foretells a Thomas to succeed him Arch-Bishop Warham for the King's Supremacy Aâ—t Brit. Cranmer's Testimony of Warham A reflection upon a Passage relating to Cranmer in Harpsfield's History Antiq. of Cant. Cranmer tries to evade the Arch-Bishoprick Declares the reason thereof to the King The Arch-bishop's Brother is made Arch-deacon of Canterbury Somner Hist. of Cant. p. 322. ex lib. Eccles. Cant. The King linked Cranmer with him in all his proceedings about Q Katharine Anno 1532. Sept. 21. Append. N o III. Rex D. Annam Bullenam Thoma Cranmero sacra Ministrante Vxorem duxit The King and the Arch-bishop appeal from the Pope to a General Council The King writes to Dr. Bonner in that behalf No. IV. An. 1533. The Arch-Bishop is consecrated The Pope's Bulls The Arch-Bishop surrenders them to the King The Method of the Consecration De Minister p. 154. No. V. No. VI. The Arch-Bishop's Oath for the Temporalties No. VII The Arch-bishop pronounceth the Divorce The Arch-bishop's Judgment of the Marriage Vol. I. Collect. p. 95. The Arch-bishop forbids preaching Foxii MSS. Visits his Diocess August Monks Journal The Delusion of a Nun in Kent The Arch-bishop appeals from the Pope The Arch-bishop's Letter to Bonner Cleopat E. 6. Disputes in thé Parliament against the Pope's Supremacy Life of Cranm. inter Foxii MSS. Licences for Chappels Cran. Reg An. 1534. The Arch-Bishop labours the Reformation of the Church What he did this Convocation No. VIII A Book for preaching and the Beads Dispersed by the Arch-bishop to all the Bishops The Arch-bishop of York preaches at York The Clergy and Universities subscribe against the Pope Cleopat E. 6. p. 208. Page 458. Cranmer and others administer the Oath of Succession to the Clergy And to Sir Thomas More who refused it Sir Thomas More 's Letters Cranmer's Argument with him More offers to swear to the Succession it self Bishop Fisher offers the same No. IX No. X. The Arch-bishop writes to Crumwel in their behalf The Arch-bishop's endeavour to save the Lives of More Fisher. No. XI A Premunire brought agâ—â—nst Bishop Nix Cotton Libraâ— Cleop. F. 1. The Arch-bishop visitâ— this Bishop's See Cranmer's Reg. The Bishop of Norwich a Peâ—secutor An. 1535. No. XII Goodrick Lee and Salcot consecrated Bishops An. 1535. The Arch-bishop preaches up the King's Supremacy at Canterbury A Prior preaches against him Whom he convents before him The Arch-bishop acquaints the King with the matter No. XIII A Provincial Visitation Winchester herein opposeth him The ABp's vindication of his title of Primateâ— No. XIV The Bp of London refuseth his Visitation No. XV. And protests â—gainst him Cranmer sends him a part of the New Testament to translate And his Answer â—â—xii MSS. â—â—wney's Jest upon Sâ—okesly Who this Lawney was Monasteriâ—â— visited The ABp for their Dissolution Hist. Râ—â— P. â— p. 189 190. No. XVI The Visitors Informations Second Sermon Bishops Diocesan and Suffragan consecrated Suffragan Bps usual in the Realm Ex Regist. ABp Courtney Hist. Reâ— Coll. p. 148. Godwin's Catal. Ath. Oxonien Bishops without Title Sumner's Antiq. of Cant. Nic. Shaxton Edward Fox William Barlow George Brown A Memorial of the good Services of ABp Brown in Ireland Life and Death of Geo. Brown printed in Dublin Tho. Mannyng Regist. Cran. An. 1536. Iohn Salisbury An. 1536. The ABp's Audience Court struck at The Abp. defends it No. XVII The ABp promoting a Reformation in the Convocation Articles published and recommended by the King Life Hen. VIII p. 466. The Original thereof Book V. p. 213. Addenda to the Collection Num. 1. The Original sent into the North to shew to the Rebels The Contents of them Articles of Faith Articles relating to Ceremonies A Conjecture that the Pen of the ABp was here Two remarkable Books published I. The Book of Articles II. A Book against the Pope called the Bishop's Book Herbert's Life of K. Henry p. 418. Certain Cases of Matrimony put to the ABp His Solution Refuseth to grant a Dispensation for the Marriage of a Relation Cleopatra E. 5. His Letter thereupon Vid. Fox Acts p. 960. He restrain the Number of Proctors Which some complain of to the Parliament No. XVIII The ABp divorseth Queen Ann. Life of King Henry p. 446. A Licencâ—â—or a Chappel Cran. Regist. Bucer dedicates this Year a Book to the ABp Bishops Consecrated Rich. Sampson Cran. Regist. William Rugg Godwin's Catal. Rob. Warton Cran. Regist. An. 1537. The Bishops Book by the ABp's means Winchester's opposition Fox MS. Life of Cranmer The King makes Animadversionâ— upon it Cleopatra â— 5. Published How esteem'd Inter Foxii MSS. Enlarged and reprinted Ld. Herb. Hist. p. 418. Ibid. p. 408. Bale's Cent. Some Account of the foresaid Book Defence of Priests Mar. p. 226. Names of the Composers Goes down into his Diocess Gets a Licence to visit Pag. 472. The Vicar of Croydon The ABp visits his Diocess What course he took for the preventing of Superstition No. XIX His joy at the publishing the English Bible Presents one by Crumwel to the King Cleopatra E. 5. p. 329. Cransmer's Letters to Crumwel Cleopatra E. 6. p. 292. Some further Particulars concerning this Edition of the Bible The Printer's thanks and requests to Crumwel Graâ—ton to Crumwel Clâ—opatra E. 5. The Printer apprehensive of another Edition Other Requests of the Printer No. XX. The Feast of S. Thomas c. forbid August Monks Journal Rob. Holgate Consecrated Bp. Iohn Bird Lewis Thomaâ— Some account of Bird. Lord Herbert's Hist. Hen. 8. Fox's Acts. Tho. Morley Rich. Yngworth No. XXI No. XXII Vol. I. Collect. 51. Book 2. Ioh. Thornton Suffragan See Sumner's Hist. Cant. Append p. 423. Rich. Thornden· Iohn Hodgkin Henry Holbeach An. 1538. The ABp reads upon the Hebrews A Declaration for reading the Bible No. XXIII The Bible received and read with
great Joy Inter Foxii MSS. An. 1537. The ABp had a hand in Lambert's Deathâ— The Bishops dispute against Lambert'â— â—eâ—sonâ— An. 1538. Rom x. Cleopatra E. 5. No. XXIV Cranmer zealous for the Corporal Presence His Reasons for it N. XXV Sanders Slanders of the Abp concerning his Opinion in the Sacrament When Cranmer changed his Opinion Acts and Mon. p. 1101. Latimer of the same Judgment Fox p. 1581. Divers Priests marry Wives The King's Proclamation against Priests Marriages Defence of Priests marriage p. 198. Anabaptists A Commission again them Cranm. Regist. The waywardness of the Priests Clâ—opat E. 6. p. 222. Occasions the King to write to the Justices He visits the Diocess of Hâ—reford Cranm. Regist. Par. I. Book III. Collect. 12. Bishops consecrated Cranm. Registi William Fâ—nch Iohn Bradly The ABp makes Nic. Wotton Commissary of his Faculties Cranm. Regist. An. 1539. Ath. Oxon. p. 124. An. 1539. The King offended with the ABp and some other Bishops Life of Cranm. inter Foxii MSS. The six Articles opposed by the ABp Life of K. Henry p. 512. The Argumentâ— the ABp made use of at this time lost The King's Message to the ABp by the Lords MS. Life of Cranmer in C.C.C.C. A Book of Ceremonies laboured to be brought in Cleopatra E. â— p. 259. A Convocation The Papists rejoice No. XXVI Two Priories surrendred to the ABp The ABp and Crumwel labour with the King about the new Bishopricks Hist. Ref. P. I. p. 301. Bishops this Year An. 1540. Iohn Bell. Iohn Skyp An. 1540. The ABp's Enemies accuse him His Honesty and Courage in discharge of a Commission And his Success therein Hist. Ref. P. I. p. 286. Questions of Religion to be discussed by Divines by the King's Command The Names of the Commiâ—sioners Seventeen Questions upon the Sacrament Part I. Collect. xxi p. 201. Cleopatra E. 5. p. 36. Nâ— XXVII No. XXVIII The ABp's Judgment upon these Questions Vol. I. Book 3. Collect. XXI Cleopatra E. 5. The Judgments of other Learned Men concerning other Points Part I. Addendâ— to the Collect. No. XI An Act to prevent Divorces The ABp to Osiander concerning the Germans abuse of Matrimony No. XXIX Some account of printing the English Bible New Testament printed in 1526. And burnt Fox's Acts p. 929. Reprinted about 1530. Inter Foxii MSS. Burnt again The Scripture prohibited in a Meeting at the Star-Chamber New Testaments burnt the third Time Fox p. 937. The whole Bible printed 1537. Matthews that is Roger's Bible Balaei Centur. About 1538. the Bible printing again in Paris Fox p. 1086. No. XXX The Printers fall into the Inquisition Cleopatra E. â— The Bible printed with French Presses in London The English Bible burnt the fourth time The largest Bible published in the Year 1540. Boner's Admonitions for reading the Bible The Bible suprest again An. 154â— K. Henry's judgment for the use of the Bible The ABp keeps himself more retired The ABp issues out his Commission for the Consecrating of Boner Cranm. Regist. Boner's Oath of Fidelity The ABp makes a Commissary in Calais Fox p. 1120. Butler a better Commissary His Troubles The occasion thereof the Discovery of a Religious Cheat. Glazier Commissary in Calais ABp's Judgment of Admission of Scholars into the School belonging to the Cathedral Foxii MSS. Edm. Boneâ— Nic. Hethe Cranm. Regist. Tho. Thirlby Some account of Thirlby's Rise In a Letter to Day the Printer An. 1565. An. 1541. The ABp visits All-Soâ—ls College ABp Cranm. Registi Visits it a second Time The ABâ— giveâ— order about Shrines The King to the ABp for searching after Shrines ABp Cranm. Regist. The ABp's Orders accordingly to his Dean his Arch-Deacon and Commissary The ABp lays Bekesburn to the See Angl. Sacra Vol. 1. p. 148. Records of Chr. Ch. Cant. Learned Preachers preferred by the ABp The ABp makes some recant A Convocation Their Business Fuller's Ch. Hist. from the Records of Canterbury William Knight Iohn Wakâ—man Iohn Chambre Arthur Bulkeley Robert King An. 1542. The King's Book revised by the ABp Misâ—â—llanâ—â— D. inter MSS. C.C.C.C. Divers Discourses of the ABp No. XXXI No. XXXII The goodly Primer The ABp instrumental to the Reformation in Scotland Hist. Reform Vol. 1. p. 320. An Act procured by the ABp Hist. Refor Vol. 1. p. 321. Paul Bush. An. 1543. The King's Book published by Authority A Visitation at Caâ—terbury Intit Accusatio Cranmer inter MSS. C.C.C.C. Presentments An. 1543. Reflections upon the former Presentments The Prebendaries and Preachers admonished by the ABp The Prebendaries Plot against the ABp Winchester the chief Manager Winchester designs the Death of divers of the Court. Fox And of the ABp and his Friends The Papers relating to ABp Cranmer's Accusation The Contents thereof The Canons and Preachers of Canterbury Cranmer's Chaplains complained of at the Sessions They prepare the Articles and prefer them They Article against the ABp himself †Little thinking what a Spectacle he was soon after to make there when he was carried on Horse-back through the Town with a Paper upon his head declaring his Perjury and his Face to the Horse's Tail London's Practices A great Mass of Articles against the ABp procured The chief Instruments GARDINER SERLES SHETHER Fasti Oxon. p. 686. The Bishop of Winchester's Discourse with a Prebendary of Canterbury Willoughby and London wait at the Council-Chamber Willoughby brought to the Lord Privy-Seal and to Wiâ—chester The Contents of the Articles against the ABp More Articles against his Commissary More still The Witnesses The Prebendaries deliver the Articles The King himself discovers all to the ABp The ABp desires a Commission The ABp in Commission expostulates with his Accusers Shether in Prison sends to Winchester Their Reasonâ— which they pretended for what they did Cockes and Hussey Commissioners and his Officers false New Commissioners sent down The Register false The Delinquents Chambers and Chests searched The Treachery of Thornton and Barber The ABp's Discourse to them Mark XIII 12 The Brother shall betray the Brother to death and the Father the Son and Children shall rise up against their Parents c. The Conspirators are imprisoned Their Release The Confessions Letters No. XXXIII The Ends of the Conspirators The ABp accused before theParliament MS. Declaration of ABp Cranmer The Palace of Canterbury burnt An. 1544. The Council accuse the ABp The King sends privately for the ABp An. 1544. Comes before the Council The King rebukes the Council for Cranmer The King changes the ABp's Arms. Prayers to be made against immoderate Rain Cranm. Regist. English Suffrages commanded to be used The Contents of the King's Letter to that intent Cranm. Regist. Fol. 48. A Procession for the King's Expedition The Councils Letter to the ABp Reg. Cranm. Popery prevails Image of both Churches Gardiner and the Bishops now carry all Bp of Landaff removed to York The ABp's Oath Cranm. Regist. An. 1545. The ABp sets upon reforming the Canon Law Part I. among the Collections p. 257. An. 1545. An
Act concerning it The Progress made by the ABp in this Work No. XXXIV The MSS. of these Laws Inter Fox MSS. Reformatio Legum Ecclesiast Lond. 1640. The ABp labours in this Work under K. Edward The ABp employed in mending Books of Service The King consults with the ABp for the Redress of certain Superstions Hist. Ref. Vol. II. Collect. p. 236. The opportunity of Winchester's Absence taken The ABp prevails with the King in two great Points Seeks to redress Alienation of the Revenues of the Cathedral Scripture and Sermons more common by the ABp's means Vid. Herb. Hist. P. 600. Anth. Kitchin An. 1546. A Proclamation against the English Testament He interprets a Statute of his Church Ex Regist. Eccles Christ. Cant. The ABp by the King's Command pens a Form for a Communion His last Office to the King Conceives great Hopes of K. Edward The ABp takes a Commission to execute his Office Cranm. Regist. Hist. Reâ— P. II. Coll. p. 90. K. Edward crowned by the ABp C.C.C.C. Library Miscellan B. The manner of the Coronation Hist. Ref. Vol. 11 Collect. p. 93. The ABp's Speech at the Coronation Foxes Firebrands Part 2. An. 1547. A Royal Visitation on foot Titus B. 2. Hist. Ref. Vol. II. Collect. p. 103. Vol. 11. p. 28. The Visitors Vol. intit Syuodalia †He belonged to the Office of the Signet and was Protonotary The Method of this Visitation Fox The Homilies and Erasmus's Paraphrase The ABp to Winchester concerning the Homilies See his Letters to the Protector in Fox No. XXXV The ABp c. compose Homilies Winchester in the Fleet. The Bp of Winchester's Censure oâ— the Homily of Salvation And of the ABp for it Winchester's Censure of Erasmus's Paraphrase His Account of his Commitment Inter Foxil MSS. Erasmus vindicated Winchester's Letter to Somerset concerning these things No. XXXVI The ABp appoints a Thanksgiving for a Victory The ABp to the Bp of London Cranm. â—egist * It should be Sept. I suppose A Convocation in the first Year of the King C.C.C.C. Library Vol. intit Synodalia Defence of Priests Marriage p. 268. Dr. Redman's Judgment of Priests Marriage Irenic p. 387. The ABp's Influence on the Parliament Hist. Râ—s Vol. 1. p. 40. The Communion in both Kinds established Fox The ABp's Queries concerning the Mass. The ABp assists at the Funeral of the French King Stow. The Marquess of Northampton's Divorce committed to the ABp Bp of Wigorn. Hist. Ref. Vol. 2. p. 56. Processions forbid by his means Stow. Examines the Offices of the Church The ABp puts forth a Catechism And a Book against Vnwritten Verities Caâ— 3. His Care of Canterbury Fox's MSS. The ABp's Influence upon the University Some of St. Iohn's College apply to him upon the apprehension of a Danger Offended with some of this College and why No. XXXVII The ill Condition and low Estate of the University Hist. Ref. Part II. p. 8. An Address of the University to the ABp The Sum thereof No. XXXVIII The Success of the University's Address to him and others Another Address to him against the Townsmen Roger Ascham's Application to him for a Dispensation for eating Flesh. Favourably granted by the ABp The ABp's Opinion concerning Lent Ascham acquaints him with the present State of the University as to their Studies Epistol libro 2. Sir Iohn Cheke the ABp's dear Friend the prime Instrument of politer Studies there The Impediments of the Universities flourishing state laid before him Dr. Smith recants at Paul's Cross. His Books No. XXXIX Gardiner offended with this Recantation Psal. 116.11 Other University-Men recant Smith affronts â—he ABp His Inconstancy The ABp's admonition to the Vicar of Stâ—pney Foxii MSS. The ABp Licenseth an eminent Preacher Foxil MSS. Who preacheth against the Errors and Superstitions of the Church Foxii MSS. Is bound to answer for his Sermon at the Assizes How far the Reformation had proceeded Part 3. Ridley consecrated Bp. Cran. Reg. p. 321. Churches profaned Cotton Libr. Titus B. 2. Church Ornaments embezelled The Council's Letter to the ABp thereupon Cran. Regist. A Form of Prayer sent to the ABp With the Council's Letter Cran. Regist. New Opinions Broached Cranm. Regist. Champneys revokes six Articles And abjureâ— Other Heresies vented Cranm. Regist. Assheton's Recantation Other Errors still Ioan Bocheâ—s Heresy Latimeâ—'s Censure of her Georgâ— Van Paris The ABp visits his Diocess His Articles for the Clergy And for the Laity An Exchange made between the ABp and the Lord Windsor Bishop of S. Davids Consecrated Cran. Regist. Fol. 327. Some account of this Bishop The ABp swayed by Farrar's Enemies Sutâ—liâ—s Answ. to Parson's Threefold Convers. of England An. 1549. Rebellion in Devon The ABp Aâ—â—swers the Rebels Articles An. 1549. N â— XL. Some Account thereof Crispin Morâ—man Cardinal Pole The ABp procures Sermons to be made against the Rebellion Miscellâ—n D. Peter Martyr's Sermon upon this Occasion The French take Occasion at this Rebellion Bucer's Discourse against the Sedition The ABp's Prayer composed for this Occasion No. Xâ—I The ABp deprives Boner Discourse between the ABp and him concerning his Book Concerning the Sacrament Chargeth the ABp concerning the Preachers he allowed The ABp's Answers to Boner's Declaration Papists insist upon the invalidity of the Laws made in the King's minority No. XLII Lat. Serm. Fol. 25. An Ordination of Priests and Deacons The Office of Ordination reformed The ABp Visits some Vacant Churches S. David's Glocester Norwich London A new Dean of the Arches The ABp writes to the Lords at Ely-house Their Answer Vol. II. Collect. p. 187.188 The ABp gets the Common-Prayer-Book confirmed The ABp harbours Learned Strangers MSS. C.C.C.C. Miscellan A. Bucer writes in the ABp's Family MSS. C.C.C.C. Miscellan D. The ABp's Guests Calvin Ep. 197 Martyr dedicates his Lectures at Oxon to the ABp The ABp writes to Bucer to come over No. XLIII Bucer and Fagius Professors at Cambridg Vet. P. Fag per Ministr aliquos Eccles. Argent Fagius dies No. XLIV The ABp sends money to Fagius's Widow Bucer laments his Loss MSS. C.C.C.C. His Answer hereunto Declines it at present and why They agree upon the Conditions of a Disputation They Dispute No. XLIV Martyr sends the Sum of the Disputation to the ABp The Disputation published by Martyr Quid enim nâ—gare ausâ—m Rever Archiâ—piscopo Cant. cui plant omnia debto In Praefat. ad Disp. And by Tresham No. XLV Smith writes to the ABp from Scotland Disputations at Cambridg before the Commissioners Bucer Disputes His Judgment of the Sacrament No. XLVI Relicks of Popery remaining Fox's Acts. The Council gives Orders to the Justices And writes to the Bishops Neglect in London Adulteries frequent Books dispersed by Protestants Letter to the Lord Protector Preaching against Lent Gardiner's Judgment of a Rhime against Lent Latimer counsels the King about Marriage Foreign Protestants their offer to King Edward Fox's and Firebrand's Part II. An. 1550. Ridley made Bp of London Ridl Letter among the Letters of the Martyrs Rochester Vacant
Fox Becomes Reader of the Civil Law at Oxon. Ath. Oxoniensâ— The ABp a Patron to Learned Foreigners To Erasmus allowing him an Honorary Pension Eras. Ep. 10. lib. 27. Ep. 7. lib. 27. To Alexander Aless a Scotch-man By him Melancthon sends a Book to the ABp And to the King Aless brought by Cromwel into the Convocation Where he asserts two Sacraments only Writes a Book to clear Protestants of the Charge of Schism Atrox Schismatis crimen Ep. 36. lib. 1. Satis excusat nos istorum horribilis crudelitas quam proâ—ecto nâ—que adjuvare neque approbare debemus Ubi supra Translated a Book of Bucer's about the English Ministry Received into Crumwel's Family Hist. Res. P.I. p. 308. Aless Professor of Divinity at Leipzig Mâ—l Ep. p. 3â—9 Edit 1647 Cum in Templis in Scholis doctrinam gabernes Mel. Ep. 111. lib. 3. Four others recommended by Melancthon to the ABp Viz. Gualter Dryander Ep. 7. lib. 3. Dryander placed at Oxon. Ad Ann. 1555. Eusebius Menius Mel. Ep. 66. lib. 1. Iustus Ionas Sleid. lib. 7. Ep. 129. lib. 1. No. XCII Divers memorable Passages between Melancthon and our ABp Sends Melancthon certain publick Disputations in Oxford and Cambridg Melancthon's Reflections thereupon Ep. 41. lib. 3. Sends the ABp his Enarration upon the Nicene Creed The beginning of their Acquaintance The ABp propounds a weighty Matter to Melancthon for the Union of all Protestant Churches The Diligence of the ABp in forwarding this Design Ep. 66. lib. 1. Melancthon's Judgment and Approbation thereof His Caveat of avoiding ambiguous Expressions In Ecclesia rectius est Scapham Scaphâ—m diceâ—e Renews the same Caution in another Letter Peter Martyr of this Judgment Quod Vir bonus sibi pâ—rsuasisset posse hac ratione tolli gravem quae est de hac causa Controversiam ita Ecclâ—siae pacem diâ— desideratam restitui In Vit. P. Mart. per Iosiam Sinlerâ—m Iosiaâ— Simâ—â— What Melancthon thought of the Doctrinâ— of Fate Calv. Ep. 12â— The ABp breaks his Purpose also to Calvin Calvin's Approbation thereof and Commendation of the ABp Offers his Service Excites the ABp to proceed This excellent Purpose frustrated Thinks of drâ—wing up Articles of Religion for the English Church Which he communicates to Calvin Ep. 125. And Calvin's Reply and Exhortation Blames him for having not made more Progress in the Reformation But not justly The Clergy preach against Sacriledg The University-Men declaim against it in the School And the Redress urged upon some at Court No. XCIII Calvin sends Letters and certain of his Books to the King Ep. 123. Well taken by the King and Council What the ABp told the Messenger hereupon Ep. 120. P. Martyr and the ABp cordial Friends The use the ABp made of him Ep. 127. Martyr saw the Voluminous Writings and Marginal Notes of the Arch-bishop Two Letters of Martyr from Oxford N. XCIV.XCV An instance of his Love to the Arch-bishop P. Martyr Ep. Theolog. The ABp's favour to Iohn Sleidan Procures him a Pension from the King The Paiment neglected Sleidan labours with the ABp to get the Pension confirmed by Letters Patents Sends his Commentaries to the King Designs to write the History of the Council of Trent For the King's Use. Anno 1553. Sends the King a Specimen thereof In order to the proceeding with his Commentaries desires Cecyl to send him the whole Action between K. H. VIII and P. Clement VII Bâ—cer writes to Câ—cyl in behalf of Slâ—idan No. XCVI XCVII.XCVIII.XCIX.C.CI.CII Feb. 27. 1551. Scriptae Anglic. Iohn Leland His Wives and Children His Wife survived him Sincere and modist Defence of English Catholicks MS. Life of Cranmer in Benet College Divers Cranmers Cranm. Regist. Suâ—â—er's Ant. Philpot 's Villar Cantian The AB's Stock Aslacton Whatton The Rectories whereof the ABp purchased His Chaplains Rowland Taylor His Epitaph A Sermon preached the Day after his Burning Inter Foxii MSS. Wherein the Martyr is grosly Slandered Iohn Ponet Stow. Tho. Becon Rich. Harman Rob. Watson the ABp's Steward His Secretary Ralph Morice His Parentage Well known to divers eminent Bishops Presents Turner to Chartham And stands by him in his Troubles for his faitâ—â—ul Preaching An Instance of the ABp's Kindness to this his Secretary Morice his Suit to Q. Elizabeth for a Pension His second Suit to the Queen to confirm certain Lands descended to him from his Father No. CIII He was Register to the Commissioners in K. Edward's Visitation Suffered under Q. Mary Morice supplied Fox with many material Notices in his Book Morice a cordial Friend to Latimer Fox Morice's Declaration concerning the ABp His Temperance of Nature His Carriage towards hiâ— Enemies Severe in his Behaviour towards offending Protestants Stout in God's or the King's Cause * Viz. The Erudition of a Christen Man The King sides with Cranmer against all the Bishops His great Ability in answering the King's Doubts Cranmer studied three parts of the Day Would speak to the King when none else durst Lady Mary Q. Katharine Howard His Hospitality Falsly accused of ill House-keeping The preserving the Bishops Revenues owing to the ABp The ABp vindicated about his Leases By long Leases he saved the Revenues Justified from diminishing the Rents of the See Otford Knol Curleswood Chislet-Park Pasture and Meddow Woods Corn. The best Master towards his Servants An Infamy that he was an Hostler Observations upon the ABp His Learning very profound His Library An excellent Bishop His Care of his own Diocess In the Benet-Library At the great Towns he preached often Affected not his high Stiles His diligence in reforming Religion Before his Treatise of Fasting Puts K. Henry upon a Purpose of reforming many things As long as Q. Ann T. Crumwel Bp Cranmer Mr. Denny Dr. Butts with such-like were about him and could prevail with him What Organ of Christ's Glory did more good in the Church than he As is apparent by such Monuments Instruments and Acts set forth by him in setting up the Bible in the Church in exploding the Pope with his vile Pardons in removing divers superstitious Ceremonies in bringing into order the inordinate Orders of Friars and Sects in putting Chantrey Priâ—sts to their Pensions in permitting white Meats in Lent in â—estroying Pilgrimage-Worship in abbrogating idle and superstitious Holy-days both by Acts Publick and by private Letters to Bóner Acts Monum p. 1147. a. Edit 1610. The King again purposeth a Reformation His Influence upon K. Edward A great Scripturist Ea verae Religionis cura apud Josiam nostrum imprimis Cantuariensem universum Concilium regium excubat ut in nulla re aequè laboratum sit quam ut Religionis tum Doctrina tum Disciplina ex Sacrarum Literarum Fonte purissimè bauriatur ut sentina illa Romana qua tot humanae Sordes in Ecclâ—siam Christi redâ—ndârunt sunditus obstruâ—tur Procures the publishing the English Bible The Bishops oppose it Defence of the EnglishTranslat Ch. 1. p. 4. Edit 1583. The first
away and give place unto Romish Decrees And then by your own Article you hold and condemn your selves to be Heretics How be you bewitched by these false Papists Why do you suffer them thus to abuse you by their subtilty to make you condemn your selves of Heresy Why do you not send them unto the Kings Majesty like errant Traitors as indeed they be Saying unto him Most mighty Prince and most drad Soveraign Lord we present here unto you most heinous Traitors against your Majesty and realm and greatest Dissemblers and falsest Deceivers of us your Simple and ignorant people and yet in our own hearts your true and faithful Subjects We have erred We have grievously offended your Majesty but by ignorance being so seduced and provoked by the crafty persuasions of these most hainous Traitors that we wist not what we did But pardon us Soveraign Lord have pity upon our Simplicity and ignorance and these abominable Traitors punish according to their deservings Have mercy most merciful Prince of us your poor flock which were ignorantly led out of the way and strike with the Swords those malicious guides that purposely would have led us to our utter destruction If you did thus then would you do the parts of true faithful and loyal Subjects and should declare to the world that al that you have hitherto done was done by error and ignorance And I would nothing doubt of the Kings Majestie his Clemency and Mercy towards you But yet to the intent that you may further know how unreasonable your first Article is I wil yet reherse another sort of the holy Lawes and Decrees One is That no Lay man may have a Benefice to farm Another is That none of the Clergy may give any thing to the relief of the commonweal and necessity of their own realm without the consent of the Bp. of Rome Another is That no Lay man may meddle with election or any other thing that pertaineth unto any of the Clergy Another is That none of the Clergy ought to give any oath of fidelity to their Princes except they have temporal lands of them Another is That Princes ought to obey the Bps and the Decrees of the Church and to submit their Heads unto their Bps and not to be judges over the Bps. Another is Whosoever offendeth the Liberties of the Church or doth break any Interdiction that cometh from Rome or conspireth against the Person or Estate of the Bp. or See of Rome or by any maner offendeth disobeyeth or rebelleth against the same Bp. or See or that killeth a Priest or offendeth personally against a Bp. or other Prelate or invadeth spoileth withholdeth or wasteth Lands belonging to the Church of Rome or to any other Church immediately subject unto Rome or whosoever invadeth any Pilgrims that go to Rome or any Suitors to the Court of Rome or that let the devolution of causes unto that Court or that put any new charges or impositions real or personal upon a Church or ecclesiastical person and generally All others that offend in the cases contained in the Bul which is usually published by the Bps. of Rome upon Maunday thursday Al these can be assoiled by no Priest Bp Archbp nor by none other but only by the Bp. of Rome or by his express Licence These with an infinite number of like sort be the godly and holy Decrees which you long so sore for and so much desire Now would I know whether you think that these decrees were made for the common wealth of al realmes or only for the private weal of the Bp. of Rome and of his Bps. and Clergy And whether you like and long for these laws or now at the hearing of them your longing is done If you like them Wel for my part I would you had them practised among you for a while so that the rest of the Realm were not troubled neither with you nor with your Decrees unles you repented your selves of your foolish demands I think within a year you would kneel on your knees to the Kings Majestie desiring him to take from your necks the yokes and halters which you had made for your selves But to conclude the sum of the first Article in few words It is nothing else but a clear subversion of the whole State and Lawes of this realm and to make this Realm to be whole governed by Romish Lawes and to crown the Idol and Antichrist of Rome king of this realm and to make our most undoubted and natural King his vile Subject and slave Oh! what was in your minds to ask such a thing and so presumptuously to say that you wil have it I trust there be not in you so much malice and devilishness as the Article containeth but that you were craftily subornate by subtil Papists to ask and demand you wist not what If you had asked that the Word of God might be duly observed and kept every where within this Realm And whosoever would gainsay Gods word to be holden as a Heretic If you had declared your selves to be godly men al that be godly would have commended and furthered your requests But forasmuch as you ask Romish Canons and Decrees to be observed and kept here in England and whosoever shal againsay them to be holdon as hereticks there is neither godly nor truly English man that will allow you or consent to your Articles But clean contrary to your Articles a great number of godly persons within this realm for the very love that they have to God that his Name may be glorified above al things be daily humble Suitors to the Kings Majesty that he following the steps of his Father wil study and travail to weed out of this his Realm al Popish Decrees Lawes and Canons and whatsoever else is contrary to Gods word and that the speakers against Gods word may be taken as they be indeed for Heretics And is any of you so far from reason that he thinketh the Kings Majesty ought to hearken to you that by force and stubbornness say you wil have Romish Laws and Decrees kept in this realm and to turn his ears from them that with al humility be suitors for Gods Word But now wil I come to your other Articles wherein I wil be brief forasmuch as in the first I have been long and tedious II. Your second Article is this WEE wil have the Law of our Soveraign Lord K. Henry VIII concerning the six Articles to be used again as in his time they were Letting pas your rude stile nothing becoming Subjects to say You wil have First I examine you of the cause of your wilful wil wherefore you wil have these six Articles which never were laws in no region but this nor in this realm also until the 31 st year of King Henry VIII And in some things so enforced by the evil Counsil of certain Papists against the truth and common judgment both of Divines and Lawyers that if the Kings Majesty himself
had not come personally into the Parlament house those lawes had never passed And yet within a year or little more the same most noble Prince was faine to temper his said lawes and moderate them in divers points So that the statute of six Articles continued in his force little above the space of one year Is this then so great a matter to make these uproars and to arise against the whole realm Wil you take away the present laws of this Realm which be and ever have been the laws of al other Countreis also and set up new Lawes which never were but in this Realm only and were here in force not fully thirteen months And how chanceth it that you be so earnest in this Article which is directly contrary to your first Article but you know not what neither of the Articles meaneth but be persuaded by Papists to ask you wot not what But now here is the repugnance of the two Articles By your First you wil have al General Councels and Decrees observed and kept and by your Second Article you wil have the six Articles used again Then let us compare the general Councels and Decrees with the Six Articles and you shal see them aggree as wel together as black and white First it is contained in the Canons of the Apostles that a priest under no pretence of holines may put away his wife and if he do he shal be excommunicate And the six Articles say that if any Priest put not away his wife he shal be taken for a Felon If he keep her not â—til he must be excommunicate by the Canon of the Apostles And if he keep her stil he must suffer death by the six Articles You be cunning men if you can set these together Also the Councel of Nice which was the chief of al the General Councels and was celebrated more then twelve hundred years past decreed clean contrary to the six Articles For where the six Articles command al Priests to be separate from their wives Nicen Councel determined clean contrary that they should not be separated confessing such copulation to be holy and godly And the Councel of Gangrense which was about the same time so much allowed the marriage of priests that they accursed them that would abstain from the Ministration of priests because they were married These Councels vary so far from the six Articles that either you must put the General Councels out of your Book or else the six Articles Likewise concerning Private Masses the law of six Articles far differeth from the Canon of the Apostles and from the Councels Nicen and Antioch as shal be declared in the next Articâ—e Other things there be divers also in the six Articles which cannot stand with sundry old Canons Decrees and Councels So that if you wil stand to the Canons Decrees and Councels you must of force be constrained utterly to put out of your book your second Article which requireth the usage of the Six Articles But now for shortnes of time I wil come to your third Article Which is this III. The third Article WE wil have the Mass in Latine as was before and celebrated by the Priest without any man or woman communicating with him Forasmuch as there is nothing with you but Wil let your wil be conferred with reason and Gods word and then you shal se how far your Wil differeth from them both First as touching the Latine Masses Whatsoever the Priest saith in the old Masses whether he pray and ask any thing of God or give thanks to God or make the true Profession of the Faith or whatsoever he doth besides al he doth in your persons and in your names and you answer unto that which he saith sometimes Amen sometimes Et cum spiritu tuo and sometimes other things as the matter serveth For al the whole that is done should be the act of the people and pertain to the people as wel as to the priest And standeth it with reason that the Priest should speak for you and in your name and you answer him again in your own persons and yet you understand never a word neither what he saith nor what you say your selves The Priest prayeth to God for you and you answer Amen you wot not whereto Is there any reason herein Wil you not understand what the Priest prayeth for you What thanks he giveth for you What he asketh for you Wil you neither understand what he saith nor let your hearts understand what your own tongues answer Then must you needs confes your selves to be such people as Christ spake of When he said These people honor me with their lips but their hearts be far from me Had you rather be like Pyes or Parrots that be taught to speak and yet understand not one word what they say then be true christen men that pray unto God in heart and in faith The Priest is your Proctor and Atturney to plead your cause and to speak for you al and had you rather not know then know what he saith for you I have heard Sutors murmur at the bar because their Atturneyes have pleaded their cases in the French tongue which they understood not Why then be you offended that the Priests which plead your cause before God should speak such language as you may understand If you were before the Kings Highnes and should chuse one to speak for you al I am sure you would not chuse one that should speak Greek or Hebrew French or Italian no nor one that should speak Latine neither But you would be glad to provide such one as should speak your own language and speak so loud that you might both hear him and understand him that you might allow or disallow that that he said in your Names Why do you then refuse to do the like unto God When the Priest desireth any thing of God for you or giveth thanks for you how can you in your heart confirm his Sayings when you know not one word what he saith For the heart is not moved with words that be not understand But if reason wil not persuade you I wil prove what Gods word will do unto you S. Paul in the first Epistle to the Corinthians saith that whosoever shal speak to the people in the Church to their edification must speak such language as the people may understand or else he willeth him to hold his peace and speak softly to himself and to God For he which speaketh in a strange language which the people understand not doth not edify them as S. Paul saith And he giveth an example of the trumpet in the field which when it giveth such a sound that the Soldier understandeth it availeth much For every Soldier therby knoweth what to do But if such a blast be blowen as no man understandeth then the blast is utterly in vain For no man knoweth therby whether the horsemen shal make them ready or leap upon horseback or go to their standard